Clean Slate

   I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1979 and followed this with believer's baptism at West Hartsville Baptist Church in South Carolina. I was justified but I continually interrupted my sanctification by living my life for me. I eventually ended up in Berkeley, California. It was there that I met the lady who would become my wife. I am from small town South Carolina and she is from the city of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I never dreamed that I would meet a Mongolian much less marry one. But I did.    We were married in a civil ceremony and in a church but she was not a believer. We had our son a year later. She got desperately sick and my world was crumbling when I was informed that our son was sick too. I wanted to faint and give up hope. It was far more than I could handle. I did not faint or give up hope. Why? I was not alone. At that moment of distress, pain and fear I was comforted by Christ and reminded that He lived in me. I do not think that I had truly grasped his

   When the followers of Christ were experiecing real persecution as Saul hunted for them and threw them into jail, what happened? Go to Acts Chapter 8 and start at verse 4, Acts 8:4-6 English Standard Version (ESV) 4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that h e did. Persecution in the form of Saul and jail were there and they did not run to the hills. They "went about preaching the word" wherever they went. Philip went straight away to the hated Samaritans and shared the good news of Christ. Pray that I do the same in a land bereft of real persecution. Pray that my wife does the same here and on her trip to London. Pray also that you, if a believer, will do the same. We have a Great Commission to fulfill and it starts by going and telling. Fear

   I am still working on cutting out a daily(my hope) block of time to write down something for this blog. I would like to keep it steady. The idea is to try to work together the disparate things that interest me together into a weekly stew that some might find tasty and perhaps worthwhile.    I worked in radio back in high school and a little bit afterwards and have always been a fan of the ability of good radio, like good writing, to make you think. My Dad was an NPR listener and so am I. His favorite piece was a weekly interview each Friday that the old host of Morning Edition did with Red Barber. Red was a Florida native like my Dad and was at one time the voice of the Dodgers. My Dad was a Dodgers fan and he passed it onto me. Players that I would never see play were alive to me via his recollections. His favorites were Duke Snider and Sandy Koufax. Duke was the star of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, the only Brooklyn team to ever win the World Series and Koufax was a fireballing and

I was reading about the hardest places on earth to be a Christian and knowing full well that I have never faced any violence for my faith. Could I withstand it? Would I still be a Christian if I knew that the cost could be my family and my life? Our pastor preached from Acts 5 yesterday and the last three verses hit me. The apostles were kept from death my Gamliel's reasoned advice to the Sanhedrin yet they were still flogged. That is not roughed up but whipped with metal and  glass whips that tear apart your skin. Can you even imagine enduring that torture? Then what do they do? They rejoiced. They celebrated being counted worthy to suffer for Christ's name. Then they continued to share the gospel without ceasing in the temple and in homes. That is an amazing story. the last verse shows how we must share the gospel, "every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus." Acts 5:40-42 40 and wh