Out with the old and in with the new November 6, 2008
Posted by lightourworld in church, control, God, government.add a comment
Did the 2008 Presidential election turn out the way you wanted it to? As for me and my house the answer is no. Despite the fact that our candidate lost I am comforted in knowing two things. The first thing is that God is still in control. Who God is and his word remains the same no matter who the world leaders are. The second thing that I realize is that the new president will not have any more or any less ability to fix things than the president before them. Yes, the president is a very important person in our form of democratic government however they are not a dictator and they do not have absolute authority as to what goes on. I was telling a friend of mine the other day that instead of voting for a president during the next election what we need to do as a nation is go to capital hill with a bucket full of pink slips for all of the corrupt and lobbyist dollar chasing law maker in office. I think if we fired all of those people and replaced them with some folks who still believe that the law makers and decision makers are supposed to be working for their constituents. I know, the chances of that happening are about as slim as hell freezing over.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Stressful Changes November 3, 2008
Posted by lightourworld in change, church, Democracy, God, stress, Voting.add a comment
I have heard that too many changes all at once can be stressful. In the last couple of weeks we have experienced a lot of changes as a family. We recently moved from a trailer that we lived in for 7 years and in order to move from there into our new place we had to make some tough decisions and sacrifices. One of the hardest decisions was to downsize the pet farm. At that time we had two dogs, a cat, a bird, two puppies and a kitten. We are now down to Angel the lab and Peaches the bird. It was very difficult for us to say good bye to our beloved pets but the new residence only allows for us to have two pets and they also put a very steep pet deposit in place which made it necessary to severely reduce the number of pets we took with us.
The other thing that was stressful for the teens was to uproot from their schools at Sedgefield and Goose Creek High School and make the move away from their friends into new schools at Westview and Stratford High School. I am sure that Justin and Kristina will find new friends eventually but I am sure that they sorely miss their friends from the other schools. I know that Kristina keeps in contact with several of her friends in person as well as through MySpace and e-mail.
I drove in to work early this morning and it is a dreary rainy dark looking day. It was good to go to bed around 10:30 pm last night because it enabled me to wake up at 6 am and get an early start on my day. That includes driving from Goose Creek to Kiawah Island which usually takes about an hour depending on traffic. The earlier I start out the easier the traffic is which makes my morning commute much more bearable. Speaking of change my new job as an I.T. manager for a resort rental company has been quite stressful. I found myself walking into somewhat of a mess and I had to hit the ground running with little to no training from the previous I.T. person that was here before me. When I arrived that person had been gone for two weeks and I had to depend on feedback from the technology provider company that was being utilized until my arrival. When I arrived here there was a back log of workstation problems that took me about 4 weeks to resolve.
On my drive in this morning I prayed for my family and my church, my nation and I am quite thankful for many things. I am thankful for Katy and the children. I am thankful that God has blessed me with a family who loves me and friends like you who care about me. I am thankful that I live in America and that I can enjoy the freedom of speech and religion and the right to vote for my leaders. I understand that our system is probably messed up beyond all measure however I also know as a naturalized citizen that if it were not for my adoption parents I would have never made it here. I also realize that no matter how screwed up the American form of government is or how many crooked politicians may be in office it is a far cry better than living in some socialist or communist country where we would not have any freedoms that we take for granted.
I am thankful that each American can go out and vote tomorrow during the presidential election. If you are an American I would encourage you to do what a lot of other citizens in other countries can not do, go VOTE. If you feel hopeless, and that your vote does not count then please know that you are probably not alone. All you can do is educate yourself the best you can and make the best decision you can. There are websites that are dedicated to providing us with a comparison of each presidential candidate and where they stand on the issues.
Your decision to vote will enable the democratic system to work the way it is supposed to work. For the people and by the people means that we vote people into office that we think will best represent us in our government. If you do not vote then you have robbed yourself of a privilege that you have as a citizen and you will not be able to complain about who makes it in office. The bottom line is this, your vote counts.
I am thankful this morning that I can go to church on Sunday and that my family and I can take part in open praise and worship. I am also thankful that other folks like you have the right to go worship God or not worship God. That is what is great about our country. We do not have to worry about our government forcing us to worship one particular religion nor do we have to worry about them throwing us in jail just because we do chose to worship.
I am thankful that I am employed this morning. There are a lot of folks out there that are being laid off or are having a very difficult time finding gainful employment. Our economy is struggling at this time and businesses and people alike are learning how to live more frugally than before. I am hopeful that our government leaders will be able to make the right decisions and the tough decisions that will enable our economy and citizens to get back on the right track.
I am hopeful that our government leaders will realize that downsizing and making budgetary cuts is not just limited to the poor and middle class Americans. All of us need to make some sacrifices for the greater good of all.
I am thankful for technology and that I can use it to write these words and share them with you. If it were not for the advantages of technology and the Internet or World Wide Web I would not be able to share my thoughts with you nor would I be able to know all of you, my friends and fellow cyber citizens.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
A deeper walk with Christ in 2007 January 1, 2007
Posted by lightourworld in church, God, Relationships.add a comment
As we find ourselves at the beginning of 2007 I wanted to take the time to share from my heart. I hope that you will think about these things and then join me in 2007 as I try to develop a stronger relationship with Christ in my life. These thoughts are primariy focused towards those of you who have identified with Christ and claim that He is your Lord and Savior.
My hope and prayer for myself and for all of my brothers and sisters is that we can find the things of this world that are choking out Christ in our lives and find a way to diminish the presence of those things and replace those things with Jesus. There is an old saying and it says something like this. The Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible. There is so much truth to that.
As I look at my life and the process of sanctification I know that I know that I stand in His way of that perfect work more times than not. We are to be in the world but not of the world. The only problem with that is we are so deeply entwined in the things of this world on a daily basis that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the two. The only thing that will enable us to see clearly (as through a stained glass) is for us to get a better picture of who God really is. The only way we can do that folks is to pursue HIM in a personal relationship. We can do that through reading of His word. We can do that by experiencing true koininia with our bretheren. Through that fellowship we will see God working in the lives of other believers and in turn the Jesus in them will reach out and touch our lives. We can experience God in a closer more personal way by spending time in prayer and listening to what God is telling us in the still quiet places in our hearts. We must purpose in our hearts to get still and quiet before God shut our mouths and listen. If we can not hear his voice how in the world will he be able to reach us?
My pastor said this statement on Sunday. Christians today try to be self sufficient and do everything themselves and then when they are at the end of their resources and things are all messed up then we go to God and ask him to fix our messes. Proverbs 3:5 and 6 says this. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Trust in God with ALL your heart and in every aspect of your life. That includes but not exclusive to your relationships,finances, talents, dreams, hopes, desires, career, marriage…. The list is endless. Instead of always trusting our gut instinct we are instructed to see what the Lord would have us to do. We are promised by God that if we will trust every aspect of our lives to the will of God that He will put us on a straight and narrow path that is PERFECT in His eyes and for our lives. We have to die to ourselves daily and crucify the flesh and the things the flesh so desperately desires in order to truly trust in Christ. We have to purpose in our hearts every single moment of every single day to not allow our flesh to take control. Our flesh left to its own devices will do one thing and that is drive you to the pits of hell trying to satisfy it. Our flesh is never satisfied and our enemy knows that and works over time trying to tempt us to do that which is not of God.
The next thing that we can do that will enable us to have a more personal and rich relationship with Christ is to find a way to invest ourselves in service. My pastor says that people get out of God what they put into him. People have this Burger King mentality in which they want to come to church and get whatever it is that they think they need. When they do not get whatever that thing is then they start to whine and say that they did not get anything. The reason for that is because they are using God and the church as a fast food restaurant picking and choosing only those things from the menu that will make them happy. The problem with that is that God is not in the business of making us happy. God is in the business of loving his creation and pursuing us and trying to have a closer relationship with us. We have to remember that God chose us first and that He is God and we are not. Amen? We serve Him as Master and King not out of fear but because He first loved us and died on the cross that we might have eternal life OUTSIDE of HELL. That alone should make us want to serve Him. We all deserve HELL, none of us deserve Heaven.
One of the best ways that I know to experience God in a deep and personal way is to quit focusing on all of my problems, leave them to God to handle and then find out how He has equipped me to serve him. Every single one of us has talents and skills that can be used in the local church to further his kingdom. All we have to do is find out what those skills are and find out where to put them to use. If you do not know what you are good at go to your pastor and say, Pastor I want to serve God but I am not sure how I can do that here in this church. Trust me when I tell you this. After the pastor is revived because he fainted he will be happy to lead you in the right direction of service. Amen? How many churches are filled with Burger King minded people who are seeking to be made happy and completely missing the purpose of the local church? The local church is a hospital that is filled with sick people (us) who desperately need Jesus to fix all of the junk and damage in our lives. Some of us are more healed than others but none of us have arrived. For those of us that are more mature in the faith then we are commanded to help those in our congregation that are not. In a spirit of meekness and fear we are to go to them and minister to them through the power of God in our lives in those areas that the Holy Spirit shows us. Amen?
Are you doing these things mentioned above? Most of us are probably doing some of them but not all of them and that includes me. My desire is to get out of the way so that God can do His perfect work in my heart and change me more into his likeness every day. Our world, our local church, our local community, our schools, our work places, our lives will be better off because of it.
May God bless you richly in 2007
