The JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) just spend 1.1 billion dollars to send a probe up to Jupiter. Why did they send a probe to Jupiter? One of the main reasons is that they hope to find out where life comes from. They think the mystery will be solved, if they are able to see what is behind those clouds on Jupiter. Really? I could have saved them 1.1 billion dollars by answering the question. I know the answer. In fact, I would only charge them $1000. Just to make them feel like it’s worth the effort to ask me. I know where life came from and I didn’t have to spend 1.1 billion dollars to find out. In fact, I got my information free.

That information they are seeking is in the Bible.

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Not only did it take 1.1 billion dollars to send this probe, it also took 26 men and women. Hard core scientists who know how to measure stuff. Who are super smart. Or, are they? In Proverbs 9:10 it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It’s not the end result, it’s just the beginning. They don’t even have that much.

To deny God and His existence is like a toddler when they cover their eyes and say, “Can’t see me.” We can all see them, but in their immature mind, if they can’t see us, we can’t see them. You can deny God all day and pretend He isn’t there, but that doesn’t erase God. It doesn’t make Him go away. He is still there. He is still all powerful. He is still all-knowing.

Our country is a mess. In case you aren’t sure what I mean, turn on the news. It feels like there are mass shootings almost daily. Murder and mayhem seem to be the order of the day. Why are we so bad off? Why are people going crazy and shooting others left and right? I think we’ve brought it all upon ourselves.

We kill over a million of our children every year. A million unborn babies are slaughtered at the hands of their own mothers. That wicked fact has not escaped God’s notice. He knows every single child that has died.

We kicked God out of our schools.

We refuse to obey His laws and guidelines for us.

We refuse to give Him the honor and glory that He deserves.

Jesus Christ died for the sins of ALL mankind. He rose from the dead. And He’s coming again. God has not disappeared from our lives. He is a gentleman. He won’t force Himself on us. We get to choose. We get to choose whether we believe in Him. We get to choose how we live our lives. We get to choose whatever we want to do. And for the most part, people have chosen to ignore God, ignore the Bible and do whatever they want to do.

I’m not sure how long God will allow us to self destruct. I’m not sure how long He will allow us to continue murdering our babies. God is patient, but for how long? How long before He says enough.

We who are believers need to pray for our country. Pray for God’s mercy upon us. We need to pray for a revival. Something is going to happen. Either the rapture will take place or our country is going to descend into complete chaos. Or both. We all need the Lord. He is our Savior. He is our hope. Please pray for our country.

Lord have mercy on us.

 

I just celebrated my 27th wedding anniversary. A friend from college congratulated me and told me that was a great accomplishment. She was one of the bridesmaids in my wedding. She told me that during a two week span, she was in three weddings, one of them, being mine. The other two never lasted and she just wanted to let me know how proud she was of us. I thought that was a sweet gesture on her part. I started thinking what it was that has linked us together for so long.

My husband is shorter than me. It didn’t bother me until an aunt of mine commented on my wedding that it wasn’t that noticeable that I was taller than him. I hadn’t realized people were talking.

In so many ways, we are the opposite of one another. He loves music. He’s way into all kinds of music. I could care less. He made fun of me, when he first met me, because the only group I really listened to in high school was ABBA. I was never going to live that one down. I played a lot of basketball growing up. Of all the sports in the world, he hates basketball. He’s a terrible test taker. He can’t take a test to save his life. I’m a really good test taker. Give me a test on anything and I could probably do fairly well on it. Not because I know everything, I just have an instinct for tests. (Now you can see how valid those are). He’s a night owl, I’m now a morning person (I’m a recovering night owl). His love language is physical touch. Mine is acts of service. My husband’s a peace maker. I hold grudges. So many opposites, so what makes this work? I think back to a dog we used to have.

We used to kind of have a black lab growing up. He wasn’t really our dog, he was our grandpa’s dog. But he pretty much lived at our house. He was an older dog, who adopted our family as his own. My grandpa lived across the street, yet “Pup” was always with us. I remember one time, we drove a snowmobile with a sleigh attached to the back, all the way to this frozen river to go ice fishing. Now it’s the middle of winter, with just snow and ice everywhere. It took us a long time to get there. After we were there for more than an hour, here comes Pup, his tongue hanging out, out of breath trotting up to our snowmobile. He had followed our scent and found us. He never wanted to be far from us. Every Sunday, we would come out from church and there would be Pup, laying by the truck, waiting for us. He was so old, he couldn’t jump into the back of the truck on his own. We had to push his rump to help him into the truck. It never stopped him from following us where ever we went. It got to be a joke around town to see my mom pushing Pup’s rump up into the truck because he had followed us as my mom ran errands around town. Pup was such a loyal dog. And that’s what I thought of, when I thought what works in our relationship and marriage. My husband and I are both extremely loyal people. We’re just like Pup. Both of us are.

I think loyalty is a rare commodity in the day and age in which we live. Most people are not loyal. However, we keep friends for a long time, unless you hurt us really bad. Even then, we may still be friendly to you. I can’t speak for the hubby, but I can speak for myself. I can’t imagine hurting him by being disloyal. It’s just not in my makeup to do that.

God says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He apparently puts a high premium on loyalty. God’s loyal to us. And I think, as long as the hubby and I stay close to God, these two loyal people will stay loyal to one another.

So that’s the secret to our success in marriage. We are like Pup, two very loyal people. I guess it all boils down to the fact that we are like dogs. So if you want a long lasting marriage, be like Pup, be like a dog, stay loyal.

How perfect, we get a story in the news about a gorilla being shot, so now I get to talk about monkeys. I’ve lived with monkeys for quite some time.

Hopefully, you know the story. If you don’t, here’s a quick summary. At a zoo, a small child escapes his mother, into a gorilla pen. The child ends up in the bottom of the pen with a huge 420 pound gorilla who is swinging him like a rag doll in this pool of water. The zookeepers make a swift and smart decision. They must save the kid by killing the gorilla. They have no time to ask questions or consult the gorilla on his plans for the child. They shoot the gorilla and save the kid. Now there is a huge uprising, saying the gorilla didn’t deserve to die…the kid should have died. What?!? The kid is a human being. The gorilla is well, a gorilla…an animal.

We’ve changed all the price tags in our world. When I was in college, one of my favorite professors always began his class with some kind of nugget of wisdom to share with us. (I went to a Christian college). One time he came into class and told us a story of these two kids who broke into a fancy department store and went around the store changing price tags. When the store opened up the next day, the sales people were unaware of what these kids had done. Fur coats were now $5.00. Tubes of lipstick were $2000. Chaos erupted. My professor compared this to our day and age (and this was a long time ago when I went to college). He said, we’ve changed all the price tags. Human beings should be the most valuable, but with abortion, we aren’t.

We have changed all the price tags in our world. There shouldn’t be any question the zookeepers did the right thing. The child was a human being. The child has the most value. The gorilla does not. We don’t see the gorillas gathering together to protest the shooting of their fellow gorilla. They don’t care. That shows the value of the humans over gorillas right there. People protest, gorillas don’t. They can’t. They won’t. Not ever, ever, ever.

We live in a mad, mad, mad world. The price tags have been changed. This should not even be an issue with the child. The match between child and gorilla should always be: child lives=gorilla dies. Even on monkey celebration day (if there is such a day), child lives=gorilla dies. Three hundred sixty-five days a year, twenty-four hours a day, when the choice is between child or gorilla, ALWAYS, it should be the child lives. ALWAYS. No exceptions. Even if the kid was the brattiest, worst child that walked the face of the earth. He should always be saved. No moral relativity here.

Our world is crazy right now and getting worse all the time. We’re in an election year. I hear and read lot’s of talk about who our next president will be. How our country can change with the right person in there. I think, as Christians, we need to make Jesus the President of our hearts. That’s where the difference will be made. When He is president of our hearts, it will affect our world. It’s the only thing that will change things.

We need a revival in this country. Christians, real Christians need to return to their first love, Jesus. They need to elect Him President of their hearts. With Jesus as President of our hearts, there will be no confusion as to who was more important: the child or the gorilla? Jesus would simply remind us, He died for the child. He made a way for the child. He loves the child. He loves all of us. Despite all our wretched sin, greed, self-centeredness. As bad as we think people are, Jesus died for all of us.

With Jesus at the helm of your heart. the world will be a better place. God made us. He made the world. He made the people. He made the gorillas. He made a way for all people to come into a right relationship with Him. He is the only one who can change this mad, mad, mad world into something better. Elect Him President of your heart and watch the amazing changes that take place.