Tuesday, September 30, 2008

To Hell or Not To Hell

With a title like that, you know have to stop and read it. I was faced with a question the other day, not one that you expect to be hit with the second you get to work, but still the question arose. Let me explain what brought about this question, a fellow co-worker lost her daddy this past week. He was dying of cancer, depressed, probably scared for himself, the agony of cancer, and the agony of his family watching him go through cancer. That is such a big load to carry. I have not experienced cancer, but I have family members that have died from cancer, and I have a little understanding of what they must go through. The chemo, that helps prolong your life, often makes you sick, week,hard to get out of bad in the morning. And that isn't a guarantee, that's let's try this and see what it does. My friend's father decided to take his life into his own hands, and now she is faced with the question, can my daddy have gone to heaven if he killed himself? I was raised Assembly of God, and in the AOG beliefs they believe that you can fall away from God's grace, and that you must repent of your sin before you go to heaven. I spent a good deal of my life scared that if I had told a lie or gossiped and did not have the chance to repent, that I was not saved. I struggled with this as I was growing up, it just didn't seem right to me. I can't tell you how many times I have rededicated my life to Christ, probably more times than I can count. My husband and I recently changed denomination, not because we were against AOG, but because we felt God was leading us to a different church. That church just happened to be Baptist. I am not knocking AOG, a lot of my family is AOG, and they are wonderful christian people, We do not always agree on things, and that's OK, I believe we are still covered by God's grace. I love all of my brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what denomination. As my husband and I began to search for biblical truth, and not for religious beliefs, many things became clear to us. 2 years ago I would have said this poor man went to hell. But I no longer believe that, that is if he truly accepted Christ into his life and believed that Jesus died for our sins. I suppose you are waiting to hear what my answer was to her, my answer was actually a question. What if a man is obese, and the doctor tells him he must change his diet or else he will have a heart attack and die, this christian man chooses not to change his diet and dies? Where do you feel this man goes? Ultimately he committed suicide, he knew he would die if he did not change his diet, he chose not to, and died. He took his life in his own hands. Question number 2, What if a christian woman has breast cancer, the doctor says that if she goes through chemo, surgery, and radiation, she has a chance of surviving, and she chooses not to go through the procedures and over a period of time she slowly dies. Does she go to heaven? If she opted out of trying to save her life, would that not count as suicide and does she go to heaven. Just because she wants to live what life she has left, as normal as possible, without the sickness from chemo, and spending hours in a doctors office, ultimately she took her own life into her own hands. I choose to believe that God's grace is far greater than any sin I could ever commit. I no longer live in fear of going to hell, of course that does not mean we do not have to suffer the consequences of our actions. The unfortunate consequence to this mans actions, is that he is not alive, and his kids are faced with an even deeper grief. Feel free to comment. I know it's a big topic to take in. I pray that my friend can find God's comfort within. She is so sad, and so heart broken. Please remember her in your prayers.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Forgiveness

God has taught me so much this week. One of those things is the importance of reconciliation. If you don't believe that true unity starts with reconciliation, let me tell you that you are wrong. In Matt 10:18, it tells us that if we have a problem with someone that you should go to them, and hopefully when you are done you will gain a brother. How true that is. If two people can go to each other, and humbly before God try to fix whatever is between them, you can come out so much stronger than when you started. Just knowing that you can basically lay your heart on the table, and pray together and love one another,is such an amazing feeling. We are all human, and we are all going to have that instance in our life in which we are going to have to correct something we did. I encourage you not to wait. I encourage you to first pray and get in God's word, and then to come together and find unity. Please don't let it go, don't let conflict overtake your life. I promise, you will leave with a feeling that a ton of bricks have been lifted from your shoulder's. Don't think that you can walk in with your pride shining bright, you must humble yourself before God and each other, accepting responsibility, and wanting even desiring to leave with a friend. A friend that you worship with, a friend that you can love, a friend that will love you no matter how stupid you feel sometimes. My son has had a problem fitting in with a few kids, he sometimes feels left out and feeling like other kids don't want to play with him. We talk about it quite often, as a mom it really hurts me, but my son tells me this, he says "mom, sometimes my friends say things that hurt me, but that doesn't mean they are not my friends, I don't know how to make them like me anymore , but to me they are still my buddy's." I cry every time I think about those words, I have seen these kids be mean to him time and time again, but to him they are still his buddy's. Some time's I don't think I deserve the friendships of some people, but I'm thankful for friends with a forgiving heart. I love them very much, and I am very blessed to call them my friends.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Angie's Ramblings....

I don't even have a good title for this one. Sometimes you are faced with things in life. Things that have the potential of being something that could totally turn your world upside down, or they could turn out to be nothing. I have a friend that found a lump on her breast a week or so ago. Having to wait, wonder, and worry, until you can find out exactly what it is, can be torturous. It is hard to think, hard to sleep, even hard to work. Prayer suddenly becomes more important than it ever has before. It no longer becomes something you have to make time for, or something you forget about doing, it becomes the number one resource in your life to make it through your day. Other things don't seem as important as they used to, like being able to watch your favorite TV show, or the big mess the kids just made in the kitchen. It is a time of What IF???? In her case, the what if turned out to be nothing. PRAISE GOD!!! Another friend at work, who just finished Chemo, found another lump on her breast, once again, all of the above begins to settle in all over again. She had surgery yesterday, and found out, the lump was merely scar tissue. PRAISE GOD, again. I can't imagine the fear she must of felt wondering if it had come back that quick, and if it had, what that meant for her life. I know that as we face that potential, you really learn what it means to trust God. You truly understand, the importance of prayer, and the strength you need in Christ to help you through life. I know that whatever life throws our way, that as Jesus told Joshua, to Be Bold and Be Courageous, and he also told him that he would never leave him nor forsake him. There is one thing that always remains constant, and that is the word of God. Keep us in prayer, and if you have any prayer requests, please leave them for me, so I can be praying for you.
Love In Christ.
Angie

Monday, September 8, 2008

Impressionable

I was on my way to work today,listening to my favorite song by Jennifer Knapp. It is called "Hold Me Now"........
From glass alabaster she poured out the depth of her soul
O foot of Christ would you wait if her harlotries known?
Falls a tear to darken the dirt
Of humblest offerings to forgive the hurt
She is strong enough to stand in your love
I can hear her say....

I'm weak
I'm poor
I'm broken, Lord
But I'm your's
Hold me now, hold me now

Let he without sin cast the first stone if you will
To say that my bride isn't worth half the blood that I'vespilled
Point your finger and laugh if you choose
To say my beloved is borrowed and used
She is strong enough to stand in My love
I can hear her say....

I'm weak
I'm poor
I'm broken, Lord
But I'm your's
Hold me now, hold me now

The words of this song make me realize what it truly means to have the love of Christ. There is a friend of ours that does not want to go to church because she feels that the church pretty much ousted her when she was at her lowest. Who are we to make someone feel as though they are not worthy of the love of Christ. I thought our job as a christ follower is to lift them up, and show them the love of Christ, no matter what they are going through, no matter what kind of sin has filled their life. I began to look back on my own life, and you can even think back on yours,at what times in your life were the biggest impressions left?
I know that in my life, I can think of a few different occaisions. One was the death of Matt's father. Two life long impressions were made on us that day. One was a good impression, left by our very close friends Ryan and Christy who came to the funeral that day and then came to my father-in-laws house and sat with us for many hours. Just the mere presence of our friends was more than enough to bring us comfort that day, at least as much comfort as one could feel after losing their father. The second impression made that day, was not good. Matt and I had been a part of a church family for several years, we were involved in church, worked in the church and never missed. But it lacked the love. No food was brought to our house, no phone calls were made to check on Matt. We felt very alone. In the year to come, depression got worse, and no one was there to reach out to us. Eventually we completely quit going to church. Another time in my life was when I found a lump on my breast, the pastor's family completely understood what a family goes through when this occurs, because his wife had been battling breast cancer. I was worried, and scared, but once again, felt alone in the church. It hurt me in a big way.
What impressions are we leaving on those that are hurting, what impressions are we leaving on people that are deep in sin and they are trying to find their way out of it but fall back in because we as Christ Followers turn our noses to them. It doesn't matter what sin, our job is to show them the blood of Christ cover's that sin, no matter how deep we are into that sin and no matter how bad you think that sin is. It is time that we as christ followers quit pointing fingers, and remembering that sometimes our mere presence is a beginning to showing the love of Christ to other's. Don't turn up your nose, but wrap your arms around people, and let them feel the love of Christ that they may have never felt before. When people are deep in sin, down on their luck, and feeling low, that is when we as Christ followers can make the biggest impressions on their lives.

Zach and Abby's Baptism