Not a Camouflaged Soul

Category: Faith

  • Belated

    I’m a little bummed today. I missed my own birthday.

    I didn’t make a big deal out of it because, in all honesty, I forgot about it. No gifts… well, one gift, but I’ll come back to that later.

    I’m more disappointed in myself than anything. I should have made a bigger deal out of it. Two days ago was the anniversary of the most important day of my life.

    My SPIRITUAL birthday. The day I became a child of God and began following Jesus Christ.

    This post is a confession. I SHOULD have been excited. The fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took upon Himself the sins of the world, and died a death I could never imagine to pay my sin debt should have brought me to my knees. But I completely forgot.

    It is in my sin nature to take for granted what Jesus did for me. To diminish its importance, its relevance. To be nonchalant.

    July 5, 1981. I have been following Christ for 29 years. 29 years!

    Please know that this truly grieves me. I didn’t even realize it until this morning. I can’t remember what reminded me, but I wish it had happened Monday.

    I received the greatest Gift ever given that day. I received the gift of eternal life and a relationship with God. The same Jesus that died for me also died for you. Don’t let another day go by without accepting Him as Savior. Here’s how I did.

    Praise God for forgiving me.

  • Useful: Plan Ahead

    Useful: Plan Ahead

    This is an updated version of a post from NoCamo 1.0 on October 8, 2009.

    Twitter is a never-ending source of information and nonsense (my tweets tend to the latter). That said, every now and then there is a gem to be found. And often those gems are not even meant to be gems.

    As I have said before, I am a tennis fan. However, the only tennis star I follow on Twitter is Andy Roddick. Early this morning he said this:

    good news is i started serving good in practice today bad news is its 3 days too late

    I did a little digging. He was referring to a loss to qualifier Lukasz Kubot in the first round of the China Open on October 6th. His serve was broken a number of times and was a key factor in his losing the match.

    How many of us can relate? How many of us regret not being better prepared for what comes at us? How many of us wish we knew then what we know now? How many of us have needed to make changes in our lives, only to run out of time?

    I have known many seasons in my life where I knew I needed to prepare for something, but never got around to it. Whether it has been studying for a test, paying a bill, or writing a card, I have always had a problem staying on top of what needs to be done. Procrastination has been (and continues to be) a struggle in my life. I know what needs to be done, but put it off. Then, when I need to be finished with a task or prepared for an eventuality, I’m empty-handed. Useless.

    As believers and followers of Christ, we need to be ready for whatever occurs. We need to be prayed up BEFORE hardships come. We need to be studying the Word BEFORE we are confronted at work about our beliefs. We need to establish moral safeguards in our lives BEFORE we face sexual temptation. We need to be known for our honesty BEFORE our honesty is questioned. We need to plan ahead.

    Do you think Andy knew his serve was suspect before he went into that match? Definitely. We all know our problem areas, too. We know what our hot button issues are… what temptations ensnare us the easiest… what deficiencies could be problematic if they were scrutinized. We all need to periodically take a close look at what we need to do. And then do it while we still can.

    I am committing to make the changes God wants me to make when He wants me to make them, because He is always preparing me for SOMETHING. If you know Him, He has a plan for you, too.

    Get ready.

    (By the way, that post came out of me easier than most. SOMEBODY needs to read it. I know I needed to write it. Pass it along.)

  • Flame On

    This is an updated version of a post from NoCamo 1.0 on October 20, 2009.

    There is an aspect of Twitter that is on my last nerve.

    I like to read tweets, not just from people I follow, but from people that ALSO follow people I follow. But I am finding more and more examples of Christians following people and commenting on things they say just to stir stuff up.

    Here’s how it breaks down…

    Someone tweets something that is meant to inspire or instruct. A meaningful thought regarding doctrine, commitment to Christ, leadership, and the like. Someone else reads the 140 characters or less, takes the thought out of context (what little context there is in a tweet), and either a)writes a blog post of a couple hundred words about the tweet’s author’s inaccuracy, or b)sends our a series of tweets in the same vein. The link to the post (see “a”) is tweeted by the dissenter, and others @mention the individual and the original tweeter, calling the latter out for their crimes. The ugliness spreads.

    How does this help the body of Christ?

    Let’s assume the criticizer is right. Does Twitter harassment help the “offender” see the error of their ways, or just give them cause to block their critics, only fueling the onslaught? My Bible says that God’s servant “must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:24-26).” Stirring up a virtual mob on the basis of a preference or a syntax choice is NOT in keeping with brotherly love and a united Church.

    NOTE: I am not saying that having a conversation of opposing views on Twitter is necessarily wrong. What I am saying is that the intention of virtually slaying a foe should be absent from the “twiscussion.”

    How we, as followers of Christ, deal with these situations is what matters. Do we FLAME ON? Or do we love them with the love of Jesus?

    PS – This applies to Facebook and all other social media, too.

    For more on this subject…

    Let the twiscussion begin…