Hey everyone it's Derek's son Jacob with another piece of writing. I hope you enjoy it and think about the gift that Jesus has given to us. Thank you!
I met a guy named Jesus
He said call Him Mr.Christ
He told me of a way to fix my broken life.
I leaned in closer
Listenin' to to everything he said.
He told me of some nails and a crown upon his head.
He told me that he died
And was thinkin' just of me.
I reached into my pocket
But He said there was no fee.
I pondered at his words
And took this special gift.
He told me when I died
To Heaven I would lift.
I asked Him why He did it
Why this special fix?
He told me take a glance
At John three one six.
Now I stand before you
Saying Christ fixed this mess.
All He wishes in return
Is for you to say "Yes."
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Truth
Greetings,
I read a book recently that sparked some serious thinking in my brain! The book is entitled "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?" and is authored by one of my favorite authors Andy Andrews. In it Andy writes about our country today and the level at which we hold our public leaders accountable. In its purest form it is a book about truth and how truth can either set us free or enslave us. I encourage all of you to find a copy and read it as soon as possible.
Besides the obvious message that this book brought to my mind about truth I also found myself thinking about truth on a deeper and more personal level. Truth to self is a concept that we rarely consider. We are taught about truth to others and society throughout our whole lives. "Tell the truth", is something we here from the moment we begin speaking. But what about telling the truth to ourselves?
Oscar Wilde once wrote, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." We do that don't we? Whether it be from pain, disappointment, or tragedy we wear masks to hide some of our truth. But, for me, the real tragedy is not that we wear masks to hide our truth from others it is that we hide our truth from ourselves. We dishonor ourselves when we are not true to ourselves. Unfortunately that concept can be used as an excuse in our lives. "I am only being true to myself", is a phrase that we sometimes use as code for "I really just want to do what I want to do".
I believe being true to one self means that I take time to look at my life and identify my strengths and my weaknesses, my good and bad qualities, as well as my sinful nature, and then seek to better myself. The step in that process that trips us up is being honest about the bad stuff in our lives! It takes no courage at all to confess the good things to ourselves. Where true courage lies is when we can be honest about those things that we would rather keep hidden, even to ourselves.
Jesus says in John 8:32 "You shall know the truth and truth shall set you free." I know that he was referring to the gospel truth but I also believe he was giving to us another great truth. Just as the gospel truth can set us free from the wages of sin, so personal truth can set us free to live a life of personal freedom.
Taking a good, hard look at ourselves in the mirror is a risky proposition and shedding light on the dark places of our soul's can be a painful process. But seeking the truth, in all things, is what makes us better people for our families, our friends, and our world. The power of the truth will always conquer the power of a lie. Let us seek to be people of truth. Just as we must demand it from others we must demand it, even more, of ourselves. Until next time!
Blessings,
Derek
I read a book recently that sparked some serious thinking in my brain! The book is entitled "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?" and is authored by one of my favorite authors Andy Andrews. In it Andy writes about our country today and the level at which we hold our public leaders accountable. In its purest form it is a book about truth and how truth can either set us free or enslave us. I encourage all of you to find a copy and read it as soon as possible.
Besides the obvious message that this book brought to my mind about truth I also found myself thinking about truth on a deeper and more personal level. Truth to self is a concept that we rarely consider. We are taught about truth to others and society throughout our whole lives. "Tell the truth", is something we here from the moment we begin speaking. But what about telling the truth to ourselves?
Oscar Wilde once wrote, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." We do that don't we? Whether it be from pain, disappointment, or tragedy we wear masks to hide some of our truth. But, for me, the real tragedy is not that we wear masks to hide our truth from others it is that we hide our truth from ourselves. We dishonor ourselves when we are not true to ourselves. Unfortunately that concept can be used as an excuse in our lives. "I am only being true to myself", is a phrase that we sometimes use as code for "I really just want to do what I want to do".
I believe being true to one self means that I take time to look at my life and identify my strengths and my weaknesses, my good and bad qualities, as well as my sinful nature, and then seek to better myself. The step in that process that trips us up is being honest about the bad stuff in our lives! It takes no courage at all to confess the good things to ourselves. Where true courage lies is when we can be honest about those things that we would rather keep hidden, even to ourselves.
Jesus says in John 8:32 "You shall know the truth and truth shall set you free." I know that he was referring to the gospel truth but I also believe he was giving to us another great truth. Just as the gospel truth can set us free from the wages of sin, so personal truth can set us free to live a life of personal freedom.
Taking a good, hard look at ourselves in the mirror is a risky proposition and shedding light on the dark places of our soul's can be a painful process. But seeking the truth, in all things, is what makes us better people for our families, our friends, and our world. The power of the truth will always conquer the power of a lie. Let us seek to be people of truth. Just as we must demand it from others we must demand it, even more, of ourselves. Until next time!
Blessings,
Derek
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
That's a Bad Plan B
Greetings,
The Washington Post reported today that the Food and Drug Administration has before it a proposal to make Plan B available to anyone who might want to purchase it off the shelf. Plan B, also called the "morning after pill", is a controversial drug that is used to prevent an egg from becoming fertilized but some opponents of the drug are concerned that it might prevent a fertilized egg from implanting itself in the womb. Some believe this akin to abortion.
First of all, let me state that I am pro-life. However, my opposition to making this drug available off the drugstore shelf and not requiring a prescription has nothing to do with my stance on abortion. I am also not naive enough to believe that those who hail this potential step as a win for women and contraception don't have a valid point, they do. There is no doubt that making it easier to obtain Plan B will change perceptions of sex for many woman and men as well. I don't dispute that either. I'll tell you what my problem is with making access to Plan B easier, it's about responsibility.
Now, before some of you start e-mailing your hate mail to me, let me explain my position. Yes, I believe that contraception is a responsible decision. Many couples utilize birth control in a responsible and well thought out manner. I applaud them. But, I am not talking about contraception that is available to people who have taken the time to consider such choices. My fear is that making Plan B readily available will give young teens another opportunity to rationalize unprotected sex opening themselves up to both emotional and physical scars.
I think our country sends the wrong message when we talk about sex especially when it comes to our youth. Instead of parents/teachers/youth leaders teaching our young people that sex is an act of love and great responsibility that comes with consequences we continue to pass that responsibility on to the drug and condom companies. Our societies mentality has become, "Well, their going to do it anyway and we can't stop them so they might as well have protection". It's not the "they might as well have protection" part that drives me crazy. Yes, if two young people are going to engage in sex I would want them to have some type of protection. I am not an idiot! As I said before that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is the apathy that we, as adults, exhibit by believing the lie that "kids are going to have sex and there is nothing we can do to stop it". That, my friends, is pure crap!
When was it that the youth of our country had their ability to choose taken away from them? When was it that our society decided that our kids were too stupid to make good choices? Some where along the line we decided that any effort to instill in our kids knowledge about sex got trumped by hormonal urges. The fact is we gave up on our kids, plain and simple! So, we do what we always do. We refuse to equip them with the tools to make good choices and we make it easier for them to obtain a drug that bails out their bad ones.
Do I think Plan B serves a purpose? Of course I do. The effect of this drug on women of abuse is unimpeachable. But, in this particular prose, I am not talking about women. I am talking about kids! I don't want to get rid of the drug I just don't think it sends the right message when we make it so readily available to any and everyone. We justify it by claiming to be a responsible society but it's just another way of saying we don't trust our kids.
I'm not sticking my head in the sand and claiming that teenage pregnancy and STD's could be eradicated by taking contraceptives off the shelf at Wal-Mart. Again, if two young people have decided to have sex I would be the first one to tell them to use protection but I would also hope that I would take just as much time to encourage a responsible decision making process.
Keep the drug, change the message! If you need it get a prescription and get it. Keeping Plan B off the shelf is not going to make it harder for adults to make sound contraceptive decisions. However, it might make it necessary for our young people to step up and make a responsible decision that they are very capable of making! Let's not let them off the hook in the decision making process. Yes, some of the decisions are going to be bad and some will be good but when we continue to make products available that negate the need for thought we do more damage than help. It's ironic, we claim to be protecting them but I wonder if we're not aiding in their possible destruction.
Until next time,
Pastor Derek
The Washington Post reported today that the Food and Drug Administration has before it a proposal to make Plan B available to anyone who might want to purchase it off the shelf. Plan B, also called the "morning after pill", is a controversial drug that is used to prevent an egg from becoming fertilized but some opponents of the drug are concerned that it might prevent a fertilized egg from implanting itself in the womb. Some believe this akin to abortion.
First of all, let me state that I am pro-life. However, my opposition to making this drug available off the drugstore shelf and not requiring a prescription has nothing to do with my stance on abortion. I am also not naive enough to believe that those who hail this potential step as a win for women and contraception don't have a valid point, they do. There is no doubt that making it easier to obtain Plan B will change perceptions of sex for many woman and men as well. I don't dispute that either. I'll tell you what my problem is with making access to Plan B easier, it's about responsibility.
Now, before some of you start e-mailing your hate mail to me, let me explain my position. Yes, I believe that contraception is a responsible decision. Many couples utilize birth control in a responsible and well thought out manner. I applaud them. But, I am not talking about contraception that is available to people who have taken the time to consider such choices. My fear is that making Plan B readily available will give young teens another opportunity to rationalize unprotected sex opening themselves up to both emotional and physical scars.
I think our country sends the wrong message when we talk about sex especially when it comes to our youth. Instead of parents/teachers/youth leaders teaching our young people that sex is an act of love and great responsibility that comes with consequences we continue to pass that responsibility on to the drug and condom companies. Our societies mentality has become, "Well, their going to do it anyway and we can't stop them so they might as well have protection". It's not the "they might as well have protection" part that drives me crazy. Yes, if two young people are going to engage in sex I would want them to have some type of protection. I am not an idiot! As I said before that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is the apathy that we, as adults, exhibit by believing the lie that "kids are going to have sex and there is nothing we can do to stop it". That, my friends, is pure crap!
When was it that the youth of our country had their ability to choose taken away from them? When was it that our society decided that our kids were too stupid to make good choices? Some where along the line we decided that any effort to instill in our kids knowledge about sex got trumped by hormonal urges. The fact is we gave up on our kids, plain and simple! So, we do what we always do. We refuse to equip them with the tools to make good choices and we make it easier for them to obtain a drug that bails out their bad ones.
Do I think Plan B serves a purpose? Of course I do. The effect of this drug on women of abuse is unimpeachable. But, in this particular prose, I am not talking about women. I am talking about kids! I don't want to get rid of the drug I just don't think it sends the right message when we make it so readily available to any and everyone. We justify it by claiming to be a responsible society but it's just another way of saying we don't trust our kids.
I'm not sticking my head in the sand and claiming that teenage pregnancy and STD's could be eradicated by taking contraceptives off the shelf at Wal-Mart. Again, if two young people have decided to have sex I would be the first one to tell them to use protection but I would also hope that I would take just as much time to encourage a responsible decision making process.
Keep the drug, change the message! If you need it get a prescription and get it. Keeping Plan B off the shelf is not going to make it harder for adults to make sound contraceptive decisions. However, it might make it necessary for our young people to step up and make a responsible decision that they are very capable of making! Let's not let them off the hook in the decision making process. Yes, some of the decisions are going to be bad and some will be good but when we continue to make products available that negate the need for thought we do more damage than help. It's ironic, we claim to be protecting them but I wonder if we're not aiding in their possible destruction.
Until next time,
Pastor Derek
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