God. Cruel? I Think Not

This question came up kinda sorta at our last small group. The Babylonian King threw Daniel's conspirators (and their families) into the lions den / pit for trying to set up Daniel to get him killed. The question was why did God allow the women and children of the families to get eaten? Long story short, it was the custom of the Medo - Persian law that if any one of the family members were convicted of something, the whole family was guilty. Nice huh? This got me thinking of some other instances in the Bible where God is seemingly ruthless. The annihilation of the Amalekites for example. He told the armies to go back and kill the women and children also! That sounds brutal to me. The same can be said about the Canaanites, or the "little children" (KJV) that taunted Elisha, and two bears mauled 42 of the "little children" to death! Ouch!

I picked up Lee Stroebel's book "The Case For Faith" and read some super cool things. If you don't know who Lee Stroebel is, he was an atheist that worked for the Chicago Tribune newspaper and set out to write a story on the fallacy of Jesus Christ, and prove him as legend rather than the authentic messiah that He is. Lee became a follower of Christ during his "investigation."

He (Lee) has an interview with an incredibly intelligent Christian man named Norman Geisler and challenges him on some of these tough questions about God being merciful vs. merciless. For example; God calls for the complete destruction of the Amalekites. The Amalekites were so wicked and corrupt to the core, that God chose to wipe the entire nation out so that no offspring could ever reproduce their corruption. They were given 400 years to repent beforehand by the way, but to no avail. Same with the Canaanites. He (God) gives us a chance to repent. He wants us to repent. He wants that all will come to Him.

When someone questions us about the "cruel" God of the Old Testament, we need to know our bibles. There are some really bad translations of Hebrew words in the KJV bibles. The "anti" Christ people out there have really been fed a believable pack of lies by the enemy, and if we don't do our due diligence, we have no effective and correct answer for their questions. God is sovereign and merciful beyond belief. We question His actions and motives?! How dare we! If you can create life, then you may have the power to take it away. God created life, He has the power and the right to do what He wants with it. We think how dare God let bad things happen? No the question should be "how dare we let bad things happen" We need to take care of just ourselves. I think God pretty much has things figured out, and doesn't really need our help. But that's just my opinion.

Anytime you question the mercy and grace of Jesus, dig a little deeper. Who else do you know that willingly chose to die a merciless brutal death for the people that hated Him? I can't think of anyone. Can you? I know I wouldn't. Yet we question God's integrity in dealing with people that He created. Wow! We better be careful. God is great, He is, He just Is!

Fall Already?

It almost feels like fall is in the air with the cool weather and all. Fall sports are definitely in full swing here in the Coats abode. New things this year. Justin is playing soccer for Bend High (the #1 high school in town) Jake is playing tackle football this year (fun) and Jenna is playing soccer again in Parks & Rec. In my opinion, summer has gone way too fast this year. We do have our 4 seasons in Bend however; Winter, June, July, & August.

As life gears up into crazy mode, it's easy to put God on the back burner. Or I can simply be reminded, every time I watch my kids perform in their respective sports, that God is good, and I have much to be thankful for. I can have the crappiest day, but seeing the smile on my kids face when he or she scores a goal or a touchdown, puts it all into perspective. Thank you Jesus for choosing me to be the father of Justin, Jenna, & Jake. I hope todaythat I can put a smile on Your face.

Redeemed

"Are all of you angels?" he asked.
"Is it speaking to us!" exclaimed one of the angels.
"Am I an angel?" The approaching creature paused and slowly looked around. "No, I guess I am not an angel. I think I used to be a human being. But oh, look at me!"
"I have never seen such innocence, purity, and perfection," whispered one of the angels. "He does not seem to be aware of how beautiful he is or how bright his light is."
"Where am I? What am I doing here? Who are you? Please pray tell what am I?"
"Dare we speak to him?" asked one of the angels.
"You have never seen anything like me have you?"
"You are the first," stammered one of the angels, finally, "but...I have an idea you will not be the last. As to who you are...I would be pleased to tell you, but I do not know who or what you are." "He told me that I would be here today. Is this today?"
The mouths f the angels fell open. One said, "At least we know who you are!" Another said, "That is not possible. After all, remember what he was: He was an old thief. That old, cheating, lying thief."
"Now I remember!" exclaimed the thief. "And oh, oh, oh! He remembered me!"
"We know who you are now, dear one. But we are a little surprised, considering what you were this evening."
"I am a thief. Or was. What am I now?"
"You are the first of the redeemed." You are the handiwork of Christ's redemption."
"That is what I am!" exclaimed the thief. "I have another question. Am I as beautiful as I think I am?"
"Even more so," replied the angels as one. "
"Am I as bright as you are?" he inquired again. "
"No. More so. Much more! We have never been that bright."
"Never before have I been able to see places which cannot be seen," observed the thief in wonderment. "Are you sure I am the only one of my kind?"
"Yes," answered on of the angels. "But we expect many more of your kind." "You are the first of your species," another angel informed him.
"I think I died," said the thief. "I was on a cross just a few moments ago. Now look at me! Am I in ...in...paradise?"
"This is at the least paradise," replied the angel, "and perhaps it will be even more. We will know in three days. In fact, with your arrival, we are sure this will be much more than paradise-in three days."
At those words, this child of God grabbed one of the terrified angels, embraced him, and began to dance.
"Angels do not dance," observed one of the heavenly host gruffly. "We do now," smiled another. "I do not know who I am. I know not where I am. I do not know what I am, but I sense I am not what I used to be- and that I am wonderful and beautiful." he shouted.

Suddenly he paused. "The one dying next to me said that I would be with him in paradise, but he also mentioned something to me about a book. A Book of Life. Is there something called the Book of Life? Oh, also, there was something about being known even as I am known." With that the angels rushed to the Book of Life. Just as they had expected, the very first name written in the Book was that of the thief. The angles began to shout praises, joined by peals of laughter. They bust into a crescendo of song as rarely known before.
"I am the first of what?" he asked.
"You are the first of those for whom we have waited throughout the ages. We have long waited for this day to arrive."

"One last question: You are called angels. What am I called?"

"You are called a holy one."

chapter 39 The Day I Was Crucified

Journey at the lake

Saturday a few of us from Journey went up to East Lake and did some painting for the owners of the resort. We painted a few of the buildings, and built a fire pit in the group camp area. The next day (Sunday) we went back up to the lake and the owners of the resort (Dave & Kathy Jones) allowed us to use a couple of their big pontoon boats, canoes, kayaks, and even a paddle boat that seemed to spin in circles. A huge thank you to Dave & Kathy for allowing us to use their boats, and play in the lake. One of the big pontoon boats (the one I was driving of course) pooped out and we had to be towed into the dock. Regardless, it was a blast. We even threw our fishing rods in for awhile (to no avail) and tried for some big browns or rainbows.

The evening brought worship music and a short (but always stellar) message from "Rev." Keith, around the newly constructed and most beautiful fire pit. We cooked up some dogs, burgers, and even smores at the end. It was a fun day. Looking forward to seeing Journey do more things like this. God is good, don't forget to tell Him that.

Who Cares Friday (3)

Well, this goes out to anyone who is still blogging in my sphere of influential blogging friends. Who Cares Friday is still going, but will be posted only on the first Friday of each month. Unless I change it again, which I "can" do. So here it for this month. Enjoy, and even laugh a little, sheesh, loosen up, it's Friday!

Coca-Cola was originally green.

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

(betcha just tried it huh)

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
True or False?

Each year, there are more than 40,000 toilet related injuries in the United States.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a Superman somewhere.

Who Cares!!!