The Long Way Up

As we journey throughout the span our lifetime, it is essential that we keep track of events that have marked our progression from one stage of life to another. There is an encouraging, edifying, and affirming corollary that comes out of reminiscing the successes, breakthroughs, and triumphs one has had in the past. We oftentimes call these markers milestones, and they serve as points of reference for potential future victories over unforeseen hurdles that may or may not announce themselves. I have just recently reminisced and evaluated my own set of milestones, having been in need of encouragement, edification, and affirmation. The last ten years are laden with these markers. 2009 Blessed with the ability to hear God calling me to pursue full-time ministry. Equally blessed to have gotten my parents' confirmation and affirmation of the path I decided to take. 2010 Made it through an intense year of family illness, death, financial need, healing, restoration, ...

Who decides the value of an individual being? Who makes the judgment call to determine which persons deserve to live or die? Who has the right to take another human life? Looking at the way our global society has trended towards self-rule and relativism, the answer to these questions is ringing loud and clear: Apparently MANKIND is the one who decides the value of an individual being; MANKIND determines who lives or dies; MANKIND has the right to take another human life! THIS IS THE WORLD WE ARE LIVING IN NOW! It's a world that has decided that each one of us can now do as we please based on our own preferred version of the truth, and often regardless of how each of our choices affects other people in the vicinity of our individualistic bubbles. It's a world that has decided that the life of an unborn -- but already living -- child is not valuable enough let out of the womb alive. Or if they, by some fluke of medical procedure, make it ou...

A few blog posts ago I mentioned that the nature of my job has an ebb-and-flow, peaks-and-valleys kind of set-up: sometimes task as few and far between; sometimes they come in droves. In the last few weeks I've been feeling more of the latter, which has kept me from writing new material for my blog -- been wanting to continue my Japan-based tech-thriller of a short story for some time now. In view of this circumstance, you could probably understand now why I've been bring out some of my old stuff from an ancient blog of mine to sort of keep the momentum going on this current blog. This one is yet again another entry in both my parental and throwback series, and was written over 10 years ago. - - - - - Last Saturday the cell group discussed the topic of discipline using Hebrews 12:7-12 as the springboard. The Lord gave me this word to share to the guys just hours before and I really believe it was a "now" word. I see in the spirit that many young m...

It's become a habit of mine lately to get really old articles from one of my past blogs, and re-post them here under my 'throwback' series . This time around, however, the article I chose also fits into my parenting series category, so I guess this entry is going be a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal here. As an introduction to this blast from the past (for my Parental Guidance readers), the Bible clearly instructs fathers and mother in Proverbs 22:6 to "train up a child in the way he should go" so that "when he is old, he will not depart from" whatever lesson or principle his parents have taught him. I wrote this blog entry over ten years ago keeping in mind the dynamic between the two generations in the body of Christ -- the old and the young. Nevertheless, having read it again a decade later, I realized these truths were super-applicable in the parenting arena. God bless you as you read! - - - - - This is part of the Great Commis...

When I was just a fledgling preacher/teacher speaking in front of lots of people from a pulpit,  printed or written down outlines were a necessity since I hadn't had a wealth of preaching experiences to draw from and speak out of. This is one of my earlier 'teaching' outlines that I used in our now defunct Saturday night service. - - - - - Text: 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of Judah and the son of Asa. As one of David's descendants, he had a lifestyle of devotion to God, seeking God, crying out to God, and instructing people in the ways of God. 2 Chronicles 17:3-6, 18:4, 31, and 19:9, 10 give glimpses of this. Here are seven things we learn from Jehoshaphat's life, particularly during an impending war described in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30. 1. WAR WILL ALWAYS COME UPON YOU (v. 1-2) Life is a battlefield between two kingdoms -- the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. Whether you seek it or not, ask for it o...

We human beings come into existence in this world through no choice of our own. When we are born many things have already been decided on our behalf: our birth date, our birth place, and our birth parents. Our parentage is one of the choices we never make at the commencement of our lives. If we could have made that decision prior to birth, I think many of us would have chosen quite differently since not everyone has been born to loving and responsible parents. Growing up, a lot of us really don't get to see the value of our fathers and mothers because, at the time of our youth, we viewed them from the lens of immaturity, impatience, and ignorance. As an adult, I have come to realize how infinitely blessed I have been to have the parents that I got. I expressed this gratitude for having been influenced by my father in an article I wrote over three months ago. Today, in honor of my mother's birthday, I decided to express how grateful I am for her and how she broug...