CRASH!

Kenya Video

If you are interested to see a video blog of the trip i'm on right now in Kenya you can go to the following website...it will be different pastors on this trip giving narrative about what we are getting to see and do.  hope you enjoy!

http://www.baysideonline.com/kenya/

Kid's Town--Cooperation

First Century Ride

Yesterday i completed my first century bike ride--100 miles (102.2 actually but who's counting...LOL)  Special thx to Brian and Phil, two experienced and seasoned riders that towed me around and kept me from quiting at mile, 40, 70 and 80....way to go guys, sorry i was so heavy!!  Y'all were awesome!!

Post for SOS Series

Sexual Acts that God Prohibits

1. Fornication:  Fornication is immoral sex.  It comes from the Greek word porneia, which means “unclean.”  This broad term includes sexual intercourse outside of marriage (see 1 Cor 7:2; 1 Thes 4:3), sleeping with your stepmother (1 Cor 5:1), and sex with a prostitute (see 1 Cor 6:13).
2. Adultery:  Adultery, or sex with someone who is not your spouse, is a sin and was punishable in the OT by death (see Lev 20:10).  In the NT, Jesus expanded adultery to mean not just physical acts but also emotional acts in the mind and heart (see Matt 5:28).
3. Homosexuality:  The Bible is very clear that for a man to have sex with a man or a woman to have sex with a woman is detestable to God (see Lev 18:22, 20:13; Rom 1:27; 1 Cor 6:9).
4. Impurity:  There are several Greek words that are translated as “impurity.”  To become “impure” (in Greek molyno) can mean to lose one’s virginity, or to become defiled due to living out a secular and essential pagan lifestyle (see 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Cor 6:9).  The Greek word rupos often refers to moral uncleanness in general (see Rev 22:11).
5. Orgies:  For a married couple to become involved in sex orgies with other couples in an obvious violation of (1), (2), and (4) and therefore doesn’t need to be discussed.
6. Prostitution:  Prostitution, which means paying for sex, is morally wrong and condemned throughout Scripture (see Lev 19:29; Deut 23:17; Pro 7:4-27).
7. Lustful passions:  First, let us tell you what this does not mean.  Lustful passion does not refer to the powerful, God-given sexual desire a husband and a wife have for one another.  Instead, it refers to an unrestrained, indiscriminate sexual desire for men or women other than the person’s marriage partner (see Eph 4:19; Mark 7:22).
8. Sodomy:  In the OT, Sodomy refers to men lying with men.  The English word means “unnatural sexual intercourse, especially of one man with another or of a human being with an animal.”  Unfortunately, some Christian teachers have erroneously equated sodomy with oral sex.  This is not the way the term is used in the Bible.  In the Bible, sodomites refers to male homosexuals or temple prostitutes (both male and female).  In contemporary usage, the term sodomy is sometimes used of anal intercourse between a man and a woman.  This is not the meaning of the biblical word.
9. Obscenity and coarse jokes:  In Ephesians 4:29, Paul says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.”  The Greek word is very descriptive and literally means “rotten” or “decaying.”  In Ephesians 5:4, the Bible warns us to avoid “silly talk” or “coarse jesting.”  We have all been around people who can see a sexual connotation in some innocent phrase and then begin to snicker or laugh.  This is wrong.  However, this does not rule out appropriate sexual humor in the privacy of marriage but rather inappropriate sexual comments in a public setting.
10. Incest:  Incest, which means sex with family members or relatives, is specifically forbidden in Scripture (see Lev 18:7-18; 20:11-21).  **Taken from Intimate Issues book by Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus.

Books for Song of Solomon

Here are the 3 resources I spoke of last weekend that will be very helpful to any who would like to study the Song of Songs on their own.

The Book of Romance, Tommy Nelson--very good commentary on the book and written sensitive to the single person.

Intimacy Ignited, Joe adn LInda Dillow and Pete and Lorraine Pintus--Excellent insight into the Hebrew poetry and imagery of the book and also very practical applications in each chapter.

A Celebration of Sex, Douglas Rosenau--very practical and helpful from both a clinical approach to sex and also some help with different issues that come up in our sex lives.

Q and A about Dating from SOS

Kids Town Video

Stats for Co-habitating

By request, here are some stats that i cited in this last weeks sermon:

Here are some statistics on living together before marriage from Michael McManus, the president of Marriage Savers. Statistically speaking, living together is not a trial of marriage, but rather a training for divorce.

• More than eight out of ten couples who live together will break up either before the wedding or afterwards in divorce.
• About 45 percent of those who begin cohabiting, do not marry. Another 5-10 percent continue living together and do not marry.
• Couples who do marry after living together are 50% more likely to divorce than those who did not.
• Only 12 percent of couples who have begun their relationship with cohabitation end up with a marriage lasting 10 years or more.
• A Penn State study reports that even a month’s cohabitation decreases the quality of the couple’s relationship.
• 3 X’s as likely to be depressed.
• 62X’s as likely to be assaulted by live in boyfriend

Here are some more statistics relating to the children of cohabiting parents.

• Children of cohabiting parents are ten times more likely to be sexually abused by a stepparent than by a parent.
• Children of cohabiting parents are three times as likely to be expelled from school or to get pregnant as teenagers than children from an intact home with married parents.
• Children of cohabiting parents are five times more apt to live in poverty, and 22 times more likely to incarcerated.

A PRAYER BY TOMAS MERTON

from “Thoughts in Solitude”

 

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me, I cannot know for certain where it will end.

 

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

 

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

 

Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

 

The Magic of Facebook

A strange thing is happening with my facebook account.  I am coming in contact with old HS friends, friends that i have not connected with in over 30 years!  Now i have these 2 new categories in my life and my friends:

1.  "friends" on FB that are not really friends, heck some i don't even know! 

2.  "friends" that i once knew, but now do not.

Now the first category i'm cool with.  Just a way for networks to connect and a part of the FB world.  it is the second category that has me  confused.  These are peeps that i once knew and some very well, but that now i really do not know or even recognize some of them (i am sure the same is true of me since i then had long red hair and now have none....LOL).

This became really clear this last week when an old girlfriend contacted me thru facebook.  It was great to hear from her and all, but it brought up some strange stuff in me....

The first thing i wanted to do was apologize.  I was such a selfish jerk in HS....really.  Totally consumed with what i wanted and what was good for me.  Every relationship had so much selfishness behind it that i am embarrassed of how i treated folks...I ignored many, used some...like i said, i was a JERK!

Second, I know how to talk to peeps i know---how do i talk with peeps i ONCE KNEW?  There is so much to catch up on....so much we don't know from the 30 years!  Choices made, college memories, marriages, children born, parent's deaths, career changes....it just goes on and on....you get the pic.

Third, was a welling up of thanksgiving in my soul for how good my life has turned out.  I was raised in a non-christian home full of alcohol, violence and poverty.  My life has turned out so good!  Psalms 16:6--"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places..." is sooooo true for me.  I have a wife that i'm crazy in love with (and who loves me), healthy children that have grown up into good men, great job, work with awesome people, it is just great! (most of the time....lol)

To be almost 53, healthy and in love with the God I serve, the life i live and the people i live and work with is such a great blessing.  All praise to You, O Great God!!