The Gift Of The Good Son

My Mother once said to me that I was her last chance at having a good son. I can’t tell you how many times I fell short of that wish of hers. I was 12 years old and my two older brothers were in prison, one for stealing cars and the other for a purse snatching he did not do but was found with the contents of the purse near him in a car, he was doing time for another man because he was not a snitch. I was being accused of a crime my mother and I both knew I did not do, we also knew that I was willing to go to juvenile hall before I would tell the police who did do it. As we drove home from the station the only sound in the car was her quiet sobbing, it was the longest ride of my life and I sat there just staring out the window. No way was I even going to look at her, not because I was ashamed, because I wasn’t. I was mad; the police were going to take away my freedom because I chose not to be a snitch. But I could not look at her because if I did then I knew I would start to cry too and that was just not going to happen, then I would be ashamed. When we drove into the carport she put her hand on mine and looked me in the eye and said, "Cy please don’t turn out like your brothers, you're my last chance at a good son". Not long after that I did my best to make good on my promise to change. I joined the local Pop Warner football team and found a whole new bunch of friends. I did better in school and began to do what I could around the house to help her out. But never was I able to live up to that promise. Imagine the love of a mother for her son and the helplessness to save him, and imagine the love of the son and his helplessness to be true to a promise he made to a mother he loves. In 2004 Jesus found me broken, lost and alone. I was a heroin addict, homeless and have been living on the streets for many years. I was so dirty and unkept that people actually walked around me so that they would not have to look at me or get near me. But God did not ignore me or avoid me but He searched me out and embraced me when I was at my worst Today my two older brothers and I are all good sons to my mom. We love her and see her often. Our love for her is stronger than ever and I believe it is because even though we all have caused her so much hurt she always loved us. We all love God and we all have been changed by His love. Now imagine the love of a Father for a Son He does have the power to save but instead gives Him up as a sacrifice for those who like me have turned their back on their God and broken many promises to Him. And imagine the Son who can at any moment end an ordeal that has caused Him great humiliation, enormous shame and unimaginable pain but chooses instead to endure for the sake of even just one bad son. This is the true meaning of Christmas! That God would give His one and only Son to die for you and that the Son would give His life that you may live with the Father forever, regardless of who you are today or have been in all of your yesterdays. We teach our kids to believe in Santa and get upset when they stop believing thinking that it’s all over, our kids are all grown up and now Christmas has lost all of its magic. But I declare to you that it is not until we begin to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas that the magic begins! This day is a day of faith, a day of thanksgiving and a day of reflection upon a child in a manger that came to bring to life the hope of a hopeless mother for her sons, to answer the cry of a dying man as he lie in his own blood and filth and reaches towards Heaven and asks for redemption! This is the day that the heavens were opened wide and God's Love poured down upon a merciless generation and Mercy was spread throughout the world to every nation and for all time! My friends, God loves you! He has proven His love for you with the only way that can be declared as proof; He gave to you a Good Son! Merry Christmas

20/20 Forward Vision

In the very near future something new and challenging is about to take place in my life, and because of this I find myself looking often toward the horizon. At the start of 2010, together with a local church in Salinas, Ca we are going to do what we can to help rescue young men from a life of violence and drug addiction in that region by opening a Christian Men’s Discipleship Center, (a recovery home for adult men).

Lately I have been perusing craigslist trying to gather what I can to furnish and prepare our building for at least 10 men to start. As I have been doing this I have also logged more than enough hours on facebook just staying close to the computer so that I may be first for any new posts to craigslist. There is something special that fb offers to its subscribers that I believe wasn't it's original intention, it gives us a unique opportunity to connect with old friends and to relive old memories. I have found that one can get lost looking back, times seem to have been much easier then, life much more carefree and the consequences of our crazy actions so far away in the future that you took on the attitude that chances were you weren't going to have to face them, so it seemed safe to "Eat, drink and be merry". Most of us have learned that the future held much more than we anticipated and life today is a dim projection of the past.

So with all this ahead of me and all that there is behind I am reminded of something I read recently:

Remembering the past can remind us of God's leading, discipline, faithfulness and grace. But it should not cause us to walk backwards into the future. A thoughtful glance back can prepare us to more confidently look and move forward.

Jesus stated, "No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62

Our Dragon Hoard

~ Paul the Apostle~ Gal. 5:13-14. ~ "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

We are a people of excess, We have more than we need, spend more than we have, take more than we deserve and hold on to it all. We are that Dragon who sleeps upon his hoard, laid up in his lair waiting to devour any who dare to take from him even the smallest of trinkets. We believe that we are measured by the size of our hoard, but I say to you that we are measured by our generosity to others. If you are to do nothing else today do this; Give of yourself to another. Be blessed today my friends and remember the gift that was given to you over 2000 years ago.

HOW ACCOUTABLE ARE YOU?

A number of years ago I presented myself to my Pastor as a willing disciple. I asked him to teach me the ways and order of Gods Kingdom. More than anything else I wanted to be more and more like Jesus, knowing that to take this path meant that I was going to have to place my trust in the one God had placed in my life to spiritually guide me. Don’t get me wrong, God has always been my source and will always be. Jesus is my pattern and the Holy Spirit is my councilor and helper. But my pastor is my mentor. I was a new convert and was on holy fire for God, there was nothing more I desired in life then to do the will of my Father, to be His willing vessel. I saw this same spirit in my Pastor and knew that God took me to him for a reason. That reason was to mold me and prepare me for not only the battle for my own soul but for the fight for the lost souls of a Godless world. What does it mean to be a disciple of a spiritual leader? I can only explain it to you in the way it was presented to me. There was much said in that office that fateful day when God raised up a young man for the ministry. To be groomed for a calling that consists of much sacrifice, lean times, deep valleys and sometimes fierce opposition, calls for some very serious and sober consideration. This was not like picking out the color to paint your house or what you were going to name your first born, though to some those are big decisions, nobody wants their house to look ugly and clash with the rest of the neighborhood and some men want their first born son to have their name. This was a decision made of a question that was presented to me, not from the need of conformity to a color scheme or tradition, but it was one posed by God.

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “ Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

But the one thing that has stuck to me the most was the WARNING my Pastor gave me about, yep you guessed it, ACCOUNTABILITY. He informed me that to take on this challenge it was going to mean some changes were going to be made in my private life, namely there wasn’t going to be one anymore. My life was going to be from that point on an open book that he can look at and read when ever he felt that there was something that needed addressing. He required openness and most of all honesty from me in all matters, regardless of how shameful or private they were. I know what you are thinking, legalism, cultism, man servant, bondage, but if that is what you are thinking then maybe there is something that you want to be kept hidden in your life. The purpose of this requirement isn’t to bind the individual to the teacher but to purge the stuff hidden in the heart from the one who is to be one day a Vessel of Honor, a Spring of Living Waters to be poured out on a world that is suffering from a spiritual drought. Today I carry with me the fruit from that decision made in that room. I’m not perfect and I’m not completely without sin, but I am sanctified and purified by the Blood of Jesus. If you find yourself hiding dirty little secrets in your closet and wish to be set free from the need to continue to keep them hidden then I advise you to first of all get on your face and repent, but then find a spiritual leader you can trust and make your life an open book to them allowing them to turn to whichever part they want and read the entire chapter. Present to this Mentor a book of non-fiction, open, honest and complete. God is going to honor this and you are going to be blessed.

1 Samuel 2:30 NKJV Therefore the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the LORD says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

Remarks from CBS Sunday Morning - Ben Stein

I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late ! ! The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' In light of recent events.... Terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing yet? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then just discard it.... No one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully, Ben Stein

Unarmed and No Longer Dangerous part 7

Rock Da Bay @ La Raza / Potrero Del Sol Park, San Francisco, May 3rd 2009 1:00 pm