A Recovering Baptist in South Carolina

The Texas Rangers are cursed. How can you say they are cursed you may ask. Well being within one strike of winning the World Series twice in one game, having the third longest World Series win less streak (Only the Cubs and the Indians have longer win less streaks) and losing to a team that shouldn't have been there? If that doesn't qualify as cursed I don't know what does. The question still remains though, Who or What has cursed them. The haven't turned a billy goat away from watching a game (Chicago's curse of the Billy Goat, 103 year drought and counting) and they haven't given away the best player in baseball history to their arch rivals (Boston Redsox and the Curse of the Bambino aka: Babe Ruth, 86 year drought). So what have they done to provoke the wrath of the baseball gods? We may never know what the Rangers have done (or not done) to deserve such heart break, but until they win a World Series they will be doomed to reminisce on the "What

One of my favorite hymns growing up was "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow." One of the reasons was it was it was one of the few songs I could play on the guitar, so I learned it well. This evening as the work was winding down for some reason the words of this song came to my mind. Isn't it wonderful to know who holds tomorrow! I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day. I don't borrow from it's sunshine, For it's skies may turn to gray. I don't worry o'er the future, For I know what Jesus said, And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand; But I know Who holds tomorrow, And I know Who holds my hand. Ev'ry step is getting brighter, As the golden stairs I climb; Ev'ry burden's getting lighter; Ev'ry cloud is silver lined. There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eyes, At the ending of the rainbow, Where th

Last night as I was washing dishes and listening to music on my phone, Ron Hamilton's song "The Fear of the Lord" started playing. It started my mind turning as I thought about what it really meant to "Fear the LORD". When most people think fear they think of someone cowering in a corner while someone else stands over them. That is fear, but there is a different kind of fear, one that a respectful fear. This can be illustrated through my current job at Chick-fil-A (CFA for short) At CFA we have the "Chick-fil-A Way" which is the way certain procedures are done to make sure everything is done the same way every time and the same amazing product is served every time. If I were to not do things the "Chick-fil-A Way" then my boss would have a talk with me and if I continued to refuse to do it the "Chick-fil-A Way" I would eventually get fired. However I don't want to get fired and so I have a respect, or a fear, for my boss. I

Over the past several weeks God has really been working in my heart and in my life. My recent heath problems were followed by a personal situation where God put a decision in front of me. Follow God's will for my life, wait, and have peace about what God is doing or I could do my own thing and have what I wanted right now, not that what I wanted was a bad thing or that I won't get it in the future. I decided to follow God's will for my life and he has kept the thing which I desire from me. After making this decision there is still a choice. I can be content with what God is doing, or I can be bitter, even though I am doing what God wants. Here again I was torn for a little while, but while reading Proverbs 3 this morning I came to verse 32 where Solomon writes "For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate with the upright" The second part of the verse really hit me. The idea that God would be intimate with me, that he would be that cl

What is Gossip and when does something become Gossip? Websters has this definition. ;a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others ;rumor or report of an intimate nature ;a chatty talk ;the subject matter of gossip So lets look at what is gossip according to the world.  Gossip is talking about someone else (a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others) when that conversation doesn't need to happen and in all reality shouldn't happen because you don't know what is going on (rumor or report of an intimate nature). I happens all the time,but that doesn't mean it is right. As Christians we should be even more sensitive about gossip and quelling it where ever it shows up.  I learned this rule along time ago and have tried to live by it. "If you aren't part of the problem and you aren't part of the solution, you shouldn't be talking about it."  Another rule I try to live by is "Don&#

What do you feel when God says "Wait"?  Do you feel frustration, confusion, anger?  Or do you accept it as God's will and simply live at peace that God knows what he is doing and is in full and total control?  Recently God has told me "Wait".  There were plans I had, things I wanted to do, all of which had good intentions behind them.  In the past when God said "Wait" or "No" I would rebel internally and blamed God for not letting me have what I wanted.  God was not to blame, and He would discipline me by sending me through a personal trial.  The Great Shepherd would break my leg and then carry me until it healed..My God has been very gracious to me over the years as He continues to forgive me and guide me back onto the right path.  I have finally learned that it is much easier to simply let God work his plan and to as his sheep just follow his lead.  He knows where the edge of the cliff is and I don't.  He knows where the lion and the be

The past several months have been very busy and interesting.  Over the summer my church prepared to move out of our current building into our old building so that the addition we are adding on to our current building can be connected and finished.  Over all everything has gone relativity smoothly with no major problems.  There have been some video issues with pushing the video from the fellowship hall (our old building) up the hill to the overflow rooms in the education building but those were quickly fixed.  God has also given us more people to work in the sound room.  The challenging part if figuring out how to Train them all, but I'm pretty sure we'll figure it out.   The end of August was particularly stressful for me.  Between work, moving the sound room at church and some things going on in my personal life (which I will not divulge here) I ended up contracting Colitis (an inflamed colon).  Between the end of August and the beginning of October I lost 30 Lb.  Being the i