View of the Cross

Black skies, weeping women, the son of God agonizing to his Father. What really was going on in the mind of Christ, how was God feeling as He watched Jesus brutally murdered? It was more than just God giving His only begotten Son because He loves the world. It was more than Jesus calling out to His Father "why have you forsaken me".

Jesus was not just a son dieing for the people of the world. Jesus was God. John 10:30 says, "I and my Father are one."

God was not just a father watching his son die for a good cause. God was the one dieing. John 14:9 Jesus said, "he that has seen me, has seen the Father."

So, what am I getting at?

I was struck with a new view of the cross. A deeper meaning in my life.
God calls Himself our FATHER. He called us adopted sons and daughters. I have always viewed the cross as the son of God giving his life - and I always will but how about looking at it as the Father dieing for the child. Let's put the scenario into perspective in an earthly way. If your child were going to be burned alive in a house fire and it would be torturous, but you knew that your child could avoid it if you would take flames, would you?

I thought about my precious children, even my nieces and nephews. I love them all so dearly. If I knew they could be saved if I would take their place, I would do it willingly. My love for them is great but God's love is an infinite amount greater. God, the Father, died for us, the children. How awesome is that! When I put myself in the parent position, I better understood the heart of God in a new way.

He did not die begrudgingly, with an attitude of "well, this is the only way they can be saved, so I guess I will do it". No. Out of desperate perfect love, He ran to the cross all the way from Heaven's gates and jumped into the flames for us, pushing us to safety. What a Father! It just hit me in a new way thinking that if my child would have to be crucified, I would take his place because I love them, and I would do it willingly.

Words can't really describe the depth of what God showed me, but I know it brought me to my knees.

God's love is a reflection of a parent's love, because He is our Father.

The Salt Of The Earth

For the past 2 days I have had this annoying tooth pain. I have a sore gum and it is just killing me every time I put pressure on it. I am quite tired of chewing on the right side of my mouth...THE THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED.

So as I was cleaning up the kitchen, a thought popped into my head as I picked up the salt shaker to put away. Maybe I could rinse with warm salt water? Now as a
kids, my mother would make me do this when I had a sore thought, it was pretty gross tasting and very unpleasant to a child.

I prepared my warm sea salt water and swooshed it around my mouth about 5 times. I really was hoping that something beneficial would happen so that I would have some relief. To any doctor or nurse this may seem mundane, but to me it was the coolest. 30 minutes after I rinsed with the water, I have almost no more pain. None. Nothing. It is amazing.

Maybe God gave me that tooth ache for the lesson I learned?

I remember how Jesus told Christians to be the salt of the earth, no actually he said that we were the salt.

There are so many people out there hurting with an "ache" and they are tired of living with it. Somehow we must not be rubbing off on them. Are we, the salt, even in contact with them. Salt brings healing and preserves and I feel like there is not enough of that going on anymore. Divorce is on the rise, adultery, lies, cheating, rudeness, lack of love, criticism, the list could go on forever. I am reminding myself of all this too. I need to be putting my salt on the wounds, just like I did for my mouth. We all need to lift up our salt shaker lives and pour some on the hurting people in our world instead of not caring.

Salt always changes the food in some way. Always.

Has the church lost it's saltiness? I think many have. Can we fix the problem before the salt is thrown out? It may be too late, only God knows. Have we stopped going to the places that needs healing and help? I think we have. We need revival.

What Do Men Think About What Women Wear To Church

**** Written by a Christian Man*** Thank you to those who this does not apply to, spread the word on this culture/spiritual war.

Women...your Christian brothers are under attack. We constantly find ourselves in a daily non-stop bombardment of sexual images being shoved down our throats every where we turn. We are at war with a sex saturated lust loving culture in which we have no choice but to wearily navigate through. We are being beaten down by the relentless battle of wanting to please God through sexual purity in our bodies, minds, and hearts, while living in a world that tries to make that task virtually impossible. We are tired, weary, frustrated, and worn out, and we desperately need your help. That's right, your help. Please read though the following brief...and I truly mean brief...description of the daily bombardment that we your Christian brothers face, and consider how you may be hurting us and what you can change to help us.

Monday through Friday 9am-5pm
Driving down highways to and from work, billboards of scantily clad women in seductive positions flash in front of our faces trying to divert our attention from purity to lust. In the work place we are confronted with the reality of having to work in close proximity with short skirts, tight shirts, and low cut blouses, from co-workers clearly fighting for the label of "top model" in the office at the expense of our struggle with lust.

Monday through Friday 5pm-9pm
Helping our wives do the shopping at the local grocery store standing face to face in a check out isle with bikini's and practically topless women on the magazine covers trying to call our attention away from purity to lust. Taking part in the after school sporting events, PTA meetings, and community events our families are involved with and being greeted by females who aren't getting enough attention from men so they feel they need to expose themselves to us in an attempt to pull our attention away from purity to lust.

Monday through Friday 9pm-12am
Forget T.V. these days...even the news is no longer safe to watch; the commercials are borderline "soft porn". Even our television watching has become a wearisome event of holding the remote to constantly flip around channels during commercials to avoid the ever growing battle of Hollywood trying to draw us away from purity and toward lust.

Need I say more? Can you now see why men long for Sunday church? By Sunday morning we are exhausted, tired, and weary, discouraged, and down right frustrated. We long for one place, once a week where we can know that we are safe; safe from immodest images, immodest messages, and immodest women. Safe to "let our guard down" relax and take a deep breath. A place where we know those around us care deeply enough about our battle in this sex saturated culture that they desire help us. However, the sad truth is that church has now found itself on the list of places men can't go to escape the lure of half naked women. As despicable as this may sound, the church has become Rated "R" on some days.


Sunday morning worship used to be the safest place we go besides staying home. Ironic isn't it that we go to the "Sanctuary" for our corporate worship gatherings. Have you ever pondered the meaning of "Sanctuary"? Sanctuary is a place someone can go for safety, security, assistance, refuge, and shelter from the battle going on outside of the "Sanctuary". So why am I rambling on about this? Simple. The Sanctuary has now become the "Sexuary". What used to be the place where men could go to escape the onslaught of sexual images, and half naked women, has now become another battleground.

Please note...if you are sensitive do NOT read on, the following will be graphic. I am going to talk straight with you. Straight about the things men are being confronted with via the women in today's church, straight about the way men feel about this confrontation, and straight about the things men wish they could say to half naked women in the church on Sunday morning.

What I have personally seen in church in 2008 I get the privilege of being in many different kinds of churches in many different geographic regions. Why this is important here, is that I can testify that the problem of half naked women in church is not regional, it is not one particular kind of church, it is not even limited to one particular age group. So, with that in mind here we go with the list of things I have seen in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings:

• I have seen completely bare backs all the way down to the top of the rear-end
• I have seen fully exposed bra straps (not even spaghetti straps) I mean the actual bra on bare shoulders, I could even see the linking mechanism that holds the bra together in the middle of the back
• I have seen cleavage all the way down to the nipple area, with some exposed
• I have seen a swimsuit cover-up worn as a dress with NO bra on underneath with a V-neck several inches below the breast line
• I have seen short shorts so short to the point were you could see the crease where the upper legs met the rear-end
• I have seen skirts so short that in a sitting position you could see underwear
• I have seen halter tops with belly buttons exposed
• I have seen women wearing clothing with an excessive amount of lace and shear fabrics giving off the impression that they are going from church to a Victoria Secret lingerie party
• I have seen women sitting several rows in front of me where the back of the chair they were sitting in came above all their articles of clothing which gave the illusion that they were completely naked (bare shoulders and bare back).

I could go on. The point is simple. I am disgusted at fathers (who should know better because of the battle we as men face) who let there teenage daughters go to church in skimpy outfits that barely cover them. I am disgusted at husbands (who should also know better) who let there wives come to church publicly displaying their breasts for everyone to see. I am disgusted at women who willfully try to cause their brothers to stumble in an attempt to get attention they should not be looking for in the first place.

What men wish women would STOP wearing to church:
Women next time you get dressed for church please use the following checklist. If you are wearing one of the things listed below would you please have enough decency, and respect for us and CHANGE;
• Spaghetti Straps
• Strapless top
• Sun dress
• Mini-Skirt
• Short Shorts
• Tube top
• Low cut blouses / shirts
• Halter tops
• Lace, sheer & fabrics only belonging in a Victoria Secret catalogue
• Clothing so tight that it looks like you painted it on your skin

Believe me, men wish they could speak up about this issue, I know because I talk to many of them. We are afraid to speak up for fear of being labeled a lust filled scum bag. We are afraid that if we speak up everyone will think we were looking on with lust, so we simply keep our mouths shut. We are afraid of speaking out because of the cultural sensitivity towards sexual harassment, so we keep our mouths shut. We are afraid to speak up for fear of being labeled sexist and trying to “force" or control women by telling them what they can and cannot wear. Your Christian brothers are struggling, we are frustrated, and we are tired of suffering silently in a culture where women have lost decency and respect to the point where they feel comfortable parading around in front of men in attire that should be reserved for the bedroom with their husbands.

For the women who don't believe me, who think I am exaggerating, who think I am alone in this, I challenge you to begin Googling the topic. Go to men's blogsites, go to men's chat rooms, research the statistics, you will be shocked and horrified at the level of disgust men have toward immodest women in the church. Ironically the world wants you to believe that dressing immodestly will gain you the attention of men, and respect from other women, however the truth cannot be more opposite Though it may be a temptation to lust over your half naked body temporarily, we actually think negatively of you when you dress immodestly. Believe it or not Christian men are actually attracted to modestly dressed women far more often then immodest ones. Immodestly dressed women lose our respect and force us to think things about your character, which you would probably be offended by, should you truly know what we think of you.

Please prayerfully and carefully consider all that you just read and help your Christian brothers win the agonizing battle for sexual purity by showing up to church and church related events decently and modestly dressed. We will be grateful and God will be glorified.