Tulum against all odds...

Every Wednesday night I have a bible study at my house, my friend Cory is the only one coming lately, and that is fine; we spend some quality time with Jesus and His word; I like it.

Right before the study tonight we were talking about the Mayans, and Palenque, and Tulum; then I showed him the Island of Cozumel in Google maps; I started to remember that I used to live there.  After I had left the island I went back to Mexico City and ended up separating from my ex-wife, I was around 23 years old then.

I went back to Cozumel and stayed with my brother for a few months.  During that time he was a rep for a company called Apple Vacations, and he basically knew everybody in that town; one day he asked me if I wanted to make some money and at the same time get out of the island and go to Tulum; they were filming "Against all odds" with Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward, and just so happened that they were hiring extras for the movie.

The pay was good, 120.00 per day and food, which was a lot of money back then; I said it sounded good and I went and signed up to be an extra in the movie.  My job was to walk around in the blistering heat on top of one of the pyramids in Tulum; they paired me up with a chick I never seen before and told me to pretend to be looking at the cracks on the walls; gee, 120.00 bucks to stare at a wall for a few minutes?  Sure, piece of cake.

Tonight after mentioning that event to Cory, I typed 'Tulum against all odds' in the search field on google (the internet is amazing), and the first hit on the results was the scene below.  Of course you cannot see my face, but that is me, or I should say that is my back side.  You can see it at 0:49 seconds into the clip.  Don't pay any attention to the funny shorts I'm wearing, I think they were swim shorts; the bag I was carrying was given to me by my brother and all I had in it was an extra shirt, some sunscreen lotion and a towel; that is what I thought I needed for all three days I was going to be there.  What a mistake.

I don't think they let you walk on top of those pyramids any more, so I was fortunate to have been there at the time; I was also on another scene that I don't remember if it made it to the final cut, but at one point they asked me to get in the water with this chick and walk out holding hands with her; which I really welcomed since it was about 110 degrees that day.  That was a fun time in my life, but I was in total darkness back then, you know what I mean, I hope.

I like the title of that movie; in a sense it should be the title of my life since I am still alive against all odds, plus I am a child of God now, against all odds.

I think I would post this in the blog just for kicks and because it reminded me of a good time in the past.  My brother died of AIDS, and this made me think about him a lot; I really miss him.  I am sure he is with Jesus right now, since I led him to the Lord about two years before he died, his name was Carlos, I loved him.

If you are getting this via email, you might have to go to the blog to watch it, sorry.

Have a nice day.



http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I have a best friend...

One of the great treasures in life, at least for me, is friendship; having a good friend is really a gift from God.  Of course, I have talked about this before, and I guess I will repeat myself yet once more, it doesn't matter, some things need to be said more than once or twice, or thrice.  God has been really good to me in giving me good friends. 

My father had friends of the kind I'm speaking of, and he was a friend of this kind; one thing that I learned from him was to value my friendships.  One day he told me: "son, you will know who your friends are when you are in the hospital and you open your eyes and you see them standing around your bed"; I knew what he meant when at his funeral I met people whom I never knew existed, from all walks of life, all economic statii, (or statuses); from the janitor to the directors; he treated everybody with the same respect, and all of them came to pay him respect back, and then left; but his closest friends were there all day until we went home.

You probably already know what I'm talking about, maybe you have someone who is very close to you, whom you have known for many years, maybe 10 or 15 or 20 years, or even more, or maybe even less; and that friend of yours is someone in whom you really trust, you can rely on that friend for anything, you can tell your friend your innermost secrets and you know for a fact that you will be safe with him or her; and I'm not talking about a wife or a husband, nor a dog or any other beast.

I'm talking about someone who trusts in you also; you can also hear his or her innermost thoughts and secrets and your friend knows that you will never share them with any one else, not even your other "best" friends, you have mutual confidence and trust in each other, you enjoy redundantly reciprocal confidence, twice and both ways.

The kind of friend I'm talking about is always interested in your well-being; this kind of friend never makes fun of your stupidity, he or she never makes you feel uncomfortable, never makes crude remarks about the way you look or the holes in your socks, nor minimizes you in any way; this kind of friend will always keep you accountable to the highest standards, because that is one of the reasons why you are friends in the first place, you share the same kind of principles and beliefs.

This person whom God has placed in your life, even before the foundation of the world, shares with you very similar interests, you think very much the same way, view the world very much the same way, love God and family with the same intensity, and share very much the same sarcasm when dealing with the world and with what it throws down at us; and when it is all said and done, you have cried, laughed, worked, suffered, loved (and sometimes hated), rejoiced, and done battle on your knees together, for the same reasons.

A friend of this kind is what we call a 'best' friend; this person is someone in the midst of all your friends, whom you can point to with your finger and say "behold, my best friend" because he or she is really the best God has given you to help you and support you, and comfort you when you suffer, to point you to the light when all you see is darkness, to hold you up when you are down, to cry with you when you are overwhelmed and saddened by hardship and tribulation, to remind you that God reigns even over pain and suffering, and death.

The kind of friend I'm talking about will not let you suffer if he or she can help it; will give you his or her shoes if you are barefooted, will clothe you if you are naked, will feed you if you are hungry, will give you a drink if you are thirsty, will hug you if you are lonely, will visit you if you are in the hospital or in jail, will bring you chicken soup when you are sick; and he or she will never let you sin against God or other people if he or she can prevent it; and if peradventure you ever come to that place (you will for sure, more than once), he or she will always remind you that if you confess your sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, no matter how many times you've done it.

This is the type of friend that has really taken the log out of his or her eye before trying to remove the speck in your eye, judgment is not part of his or her vocabulary, but comfort, patience and love always are.

This is the kind of friend who understands that at the foot of the cross of Christ you both stand on level ground along with your brothers and sisters; you both share the same depravity, the same frailty, the same need of forgiveness, the same brokenness, and the same fear of hell and eternal death; you both understand that you are nothing without Jesus, and you both point each other to the Blood of the Lamb to cover your iniquities and rebellion.  You share the same grace of this glorious God both of you believe in, and you are grateful together for His mercy.

This kind of friend is priceless.

If you don't have one of these friends, God will give you one sooner or later, and in the process you will learn how to be a real "best" friend yourself; you will learn sooner or later what it means to have "a friend who is closer than a brother".  One day we all will know what Jesus meant when He said, "I have called you friends".

Have a nice day.


http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Say I love you....

No picture today....

Of all the possible things that might be important in this life for me, I can surely say that the most important one is relationships; nothing else is more important in life.

One day when I am ready to be taken out of this world, and if God gives me the opportunity, I will not be thinking about stereo equipment, or about motorcycles, or making guitars, or playing music, or making money, nor will I be thinking even about my dog; I will be thinking about people.

The only thing that is going to matter is to be able to look those people who are important to me in the eyes, and the only words that will matter then will be "I love you"; nothing more, nothing less.

The same thing applies to this blog.  Every single time I have written something here, I have been thinking about people I love; yeah it might seem that I am only thinking about myself, but that only appears to be like that, the truth is that I am always thinking about people who matter most in my life when I write stuff.

I know for a fact that only the people who matter most to me have access to this blog; and even though I have complained about life many times, and sometimes I might have sounded like an idiot, my only purpose in writing the words I write is to encourage you, you, the one who reads this, I want to encourage you and let you know that I care for you; no, I more than care for you, I love you.

All of the words above just came out of my fingers in one single motion, no stops to think about how I should say what I was thinking; and to me that only means that it is the truth.  This is important, because knowing that someone out there loves me is a good thing; it builds me up, it gives me joy, and honestly, it makes me feel that my existence matters; it actually matters more than I think sometimes.

I have a really bad (maybe it's not bad) tendency of repeating myself a lot; I know this because I have been reading some of the very old posts in the blog and I tend to talk pretty much about the same thing, over and over; for instance, I speak a lot about the sovereignty of God, I speak a lot about how depraved I am, and I really speak a lot about God's grace and how awesome His love is.

Why am I saying all this?  I have no idea, but I think it matters.  It matters that you know that you are loved, first by God, and then by me, which is not much but still matters; and it really matters that I say it.

There was a time when saying I love you felt kind of weird; maybe it was because I didn't hear those words very much when I was growing up, and so I didn't say them very much; but now they don't feel odd any more, to say I love you is actually a needful thing for me now.

Now I should ask, how do I know I love any one?  Is love a feeling?  Is it an attitude?  A disposition?  A way of thinking?  All of the above?  I know I love someone when I think about that person often and I have feelings and thoughts of good and compassion towards them; I know I love someone when I am concerned about their well being, about their status in life, about their success in knowing that they are loved by God; I love someone when I want them, really, really want them to know the truth about God's kingdom and that God is in control of their lives and all their difficulties; I love someone when I constantly pray for them, when I want to see them, and spend time with them.  Knowing if you love someone is not very difficult is it?  I don't think it is; but all that is not enough; they have to know that I love them by saying it.

So, I said it; and I hope you feel encouraged and built up.  I really hope that my words have made a difference in your life today, even if it is a very small difference.  What I really hope makes a huge difference is that you hear once again, that God loves you, and that He has plans of good and not of evil, to give you an amazing future, and peace that surpasses all human understanding.

That is my desire for you, that you rest in Jesus knowing His love is sure and stable as a rock.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

God is for you...

Since God has total control over all things, and since His fore-ordination means that He actually decrees all events to happen as they do; it is obvious to me that everything that comes to pass in my life has to be under His all powerful direction; the bible is full of statements that support this view, a particular one comes to mind right away: "the steps of a righteous man are ordered by Yahweh" in Psalm 37.

I could probably fill a page of references related to the sovereignty of God, in fact maybe I will in another post, or maybe I already did, maybe it is there in the more than 300 posts on this blog; but the thought that God reigns over all things and events in the history of mankind, and in the history of my life, is an awesome thought to think; my mind gets boggled when I think about it.

From the words that come out of my mouth, or my fingers in this case, to all the possible choices I might make, everything finds its root in the providence of God; this is very easily recognized by looking at the time and place where I was born, who my parents were, who my brothers would be, the neighbourhoods I would grow up in, the schools I went to, all the people I have ever met, what kind of experiences I would live through, etc, etc.  It's awesome.

Then at the precise moment in time, and in the right place, God called me out of the darkness and made me a new creature; Ephesians chapter one says that He chose me before the foundation of the world in order that I might be holy and without blame before Him in love, check it: Ephesians 1:3-14.

Did you read it?  Come on, stop for a minute and read it; I don't care if you don't read the rest of this post; stop reading this and grab your bible and read those verses, then come back if you want.

What did God say to you?  That you have been chosen?  That you have been predestined to become a child of God?  That you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit to be kept by God forever?  That it is all according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace?  Yeah, that's what He is been saying to me, in fact I think that that section of scripture has been the most influential in the way I perceive everything that happens.

My point in all this is that when God puts it in my heart to work on something in my life, and then suddenly my path crosses with that of other people, is because they all mean to have an influence in me, and I in them.  Every single person I have contact with, and all the words that are exchanged between us, and all the circumstances in one single day of my life, they all have been planned in advance; and everything, absolutely everything that happens is part of the process of my sanctification.

My brothers and sisters are there, in the middle of my life, because of the same reason; God is working in them the same way as He is working in me; Paul elegantly describes what I'm talking about in that passage where he compares the body of Christ, or the church, with the human body.  We all need each other as my hands need my eyes and my toes need my knees, and my big nose and ears need my index finger.

There are many things that I don't understand, life in general is a mystery to me; but I don't have to understand everything, my mind tells me that I need to understand and rationalize everything; but my spirit tells me that I don't have to; all I have to do is trust.

Now, I ask, do you think that you have been forsaken?  Do you feel like God doesn't care anymore? Is your life filled with apparent contradictions?  You think that you have made the wrong choices and that now you are paying the consequences of your lack of discipline?  Sometimes I think the same thing, and I feel the same way; but nothing could be farther from the truth as this line of thinking.

The reality is that God says what He says, and He never lies about anything regarding me and His permanent love for me.  When He says that He will never leave me nor forsake me, it is true; He never will and He never has, even when I was living in darkness.  When He says that I am the apple of His eye and that He will sustain me with His everlasting arms, it is true, I will always be as dear to Him as He says I am right now, and He will always lift me up with His right arm, it matters not how much pain I am experiencing.

The fact that you are reading this right now is proof that He loves you; or do you think it is a coincidence that you have received this post in your inbox?  God is sovereign over all things, and that includes you and I.

I'm not writing all of the above to appear to be someone I'm not; I am not smart, or wise by any means, nor even prudent; I am writing this with the very specific purpose of encouraging you, to help you dissipate any lingering doubts about your security in Christ; the only reason God loves us the way He does, is because of Jesus and He has firmly affirmed that no one can snatch us out of His hand.

You don't have to perform for God to be accepted; you are accepted in the Beloved, that is, in Christ.  Nothing in the created order can ever separate you and I from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, not even yourself.  Are you worried that you have sinned, or that you keep on stumbling over the same bump on the road?  It is the loving kindness and tender mercies of God that lead you to repentance; and if you confess your sins, He is faithful to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Do you doubt that one day you will stop believing?  Well, God says that He is the One who is keeping you through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day; He began a good work in you and He will be faithful to complete it; you didn't choose Him, He chose you and appointed you that you should go on and bear much fruit; He is the One who leads you in the paths of righteousness for His name sake; He in the One who comforts you and prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies, He is the One who anoints your head with oil and fills your cup to overflowing; He is the one who is with you when you go through the valley of the shadow of death; and it is for sure that goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life and you shall abide in His house forever.

If there is something God cannot do it is lying, so all of His promises are yeah and amen in Christ; and He says that you are in Christ if His Spirit is in you; and if you have faith to believe the gospel, then His Spirit is in you, and you are in Christ and secure forever; you are an overcomer of this world, yeah more than a conqueror; and if He has given you and I His Son, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

We are Victors, we are a chosen generation, a nation of priests and kings unto the Most High God; we are part of the family of God, we are His children, the sheep of His pasture; we are the trophies of His work of love, His poema of good works and holiness, created in Christ Jesus, remember that.

Have a good day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I feel lonely...

Two weeks and it is Christmas again; I can't believe that another year has gone by and I'm still here, still in the same house, thank you God, and still blessed to have my kids and my grand kids, and my dear friends.  God has shown Himself to be faithful to His promises another 365 times.  Indeed, God has provided food and shelter, and clothes, for one more year; and by the way, you really should click on the picture and have your mind boggled for a little, God spoke and that came out. 

I got up at 5 am today, which is really weird because I usually wake up around 10 every morning; I grabbed a cup of coffee and went out to the garage where my laptop is; dang was it cold out here; about 40 degrees; then I realized how cozy it is inside the house.

I started thinking of all those people who have nothing but a piece of cardboard to cover themselves at night; their home is a freeway underpass or some bush in Balboa park, or maybe a ditch in some park in this city; some of them carry all their belongings in a shopping cart, some of them don't even have a cart; some don't have any socks, all they have is the holes.  It breaks my heart.

The most bizarre thing is that some people have everything but they still have a hole in their heart; you know what I'm talking about right?  You might even know some of those people yourself; gee for all I know you are one of those people, who knows; but one thing is for sure, the hole will only get bigger if God doesn't fill it.

Even after God has filled the hole we sometimes crave other things, okay, I shouldn't say 'we', I should say 'I'.  I know I have been chosen, I know and believe everything the bible says, I do, but still sometimes I get lonely, just like everybody else; I crave the human touch.  I think we were meant to be with someone; at least that's how I read it in Genesis; it is not good that a man should be alone; and I didn't say that, God did.

I don't have any idea why I'm writing about this, but I am and so be it; that's the beauty of writing a blog, just let the words come out.

Loneliness is a horrible thing to go through; maybe that is why God is three in one, I'm just saying; but yeah, it is horrible sometimes.  I don't want to die alone.  It is not only to be alone, but to be with the right person; one thing is to have children, and friends, but it is not the same as having a spouse, and then again, death will eventually come and one will be alone, so in a sense it is inescapable that we should end up lonely.

I have this friend who has a very special place in my heart, and I am always thinking about her, always praying for her, always wishing I could see her again; really, almost everyday I pray for her, I love her; but there is this thing inside of me that I don't know how to describe, it is almost like bitter disappointment, that prevents me from seeking her out any more; sometimes I think she already has a lifestyle that she won't be willing to give up; maybe it is all in my head, it probably is.

Maybe it is the way I am wired, or maybe my past or the way that I was brought up, or all the times I got hurt; or maybe it is just plain pride why I don't reach out; I kind of gave up; I sometimes think it is better to be alone, that way I can do whatever I want at whatever time I want, and then I always come back to the same line of thinking, I hate to be alone.  Maybe she is thinking the same thing.  The last time I saw her was last year, one month before Christmas; time sure flies.

I shouldn't be writing all this stuff, a lot of people are going to be reading this, well, at least one person will read this; but then I think, I don't care any more what people think; at least they will know that I am not always all joy and cheerfulness, and who cares anyway, everybody is in their little world, thinking about themselves, just like me.

That is one of the things I really hate about my humanness, it is always about me and how I feel, and how I hurt, and how lonely I am; we are all the same; it is one of those secondary effects from the fall; we are self-centred by nature, and I don't like it but it is what it is.

So now I will turn my eyes to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith; man I wish I could see Him.  He is the only hope I have that all this is not in vain; He is the hope of righteousness, of perfect communion with God; no more sin to repent from, no more lust of the eyes and the flesh, no more loneliness and no more feelings of inadequacy.  Jesus is my only hope, He is the hope of glory; so my loneliness is not in vain, it really makes Christ look really good, glorious in fact.

Yeah, Christmas is almost here again, and it is the season to be jolly, and all gay, in the right sense of the word; but I'm not, and I am really not gay, even if I have a closet full of pumps, of course I'm kidding again; but seriously, this is a time to remember that God became a man for the sake of the elect; yes sir, for the sake of His amazing love for His chosen ones.  I am one of them.

A lot of people are lonely this time of the year, a lot of people get depressed too; the great majority just get loaded because they have no choice, their nature is still in bondage to sin and darkness; so my point is that we should spread the good news around a little; the good news are still good even after thousands of years, God became a man to save sinners, that is the real meaning of Christmas; go out and touch someone with the news, and consider yourself blessed that you have been called and redeemed from the pit of destruction, even if you feel lonely.

Have a beautiful day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The holes in my socks....

For a long time I worried about what other people would think about me, I know it is ridiculous but I did; and sometimes I still do.

It all was ingrained into my brain from my childhood; it is like a generational problem; I realized that today as I was looking at the holes in my socks.

I talked to my mom last night and she has a neighbour whose daughter is coming to T.J. to visit a friend; so she asked my mother if she wanted to send me anything because she was going to cross the border in a few days.

My mom said to her that she would first talk to me, and so she did.  She wants a pair of shoes, yeah that was not the original question, but you know how women are.  Be patient, I will make sense eventually.  So I went to the mall today looking for shoes, women's shoes, mom's shoes.

I stepped into Macy's and asked the girl with the tattoo at the men's shoes department for directions, and she looked at me kind of funny, "women's shoes?"  Yeah, that's right, women's shoes.  When I arrived at the shoe section I didn't think anything, I was just focused trying to find what my mom wants; and then I realized all these Spanish speaking ladies were kind of staring at me.

Of course I thought, 'yeah I know, chicks dig me'; but then I realized I looked funny in the store, I was the only male in the midst of an ocean of females; even the young guy who was at the customer service counter acted like a chick; then God reminded me about our bible study last night; we are going through the book of Romans, so you know what I mean, Romans 1? 

It was a very interesting experience to see a girl who acted and looked more like a guy working in the men's shoe section, and a guy who acted like a chick working at the women's shoe section; it was all like Eutychus says: a menagerie of paradoxes and contradictions.

Anyway, they didn't have my mom's size; man this is going to be a long story, okay maybe not; she wears size 11 wide.  Yeah, my father used to make fun of her saying that she had tamales for feet; but heck, my mom is still a beautiful woman; she has always been, but I get my good looks from my dad though, remember that; I'm proud of my Italian hot blood and my big nose.  I know, it's not funny.

Ok, so as I walked out of Macy's, I asked the lady with the moustache if there was another shoe store nearby, I almost asked her why she didn't have a tat; but resisted the urge.  She kindly directed me to Plaza Bonita.  Dang I thought, this is turning into an adventure; so I went out looking for the mall's directory.

Aha, Payless is right on the premises; that was like looking at a buried treasure map, the pirate kind, the big X was on the first level, space 304, right across the patio bar.  Cool; everything must be on sale right now.  So I went to Starbucks.

What?  I thought you were looking for shoes.  Yeah I was, but my flesh took over and I was drawn by the irresistible aroma of Pike's Peak.  Shoot, more women; dang, women everywhere, I need to get out of the house more often; then I thought, absolutely not, that is the main reason I don't go anywhere, except to Starbucks and the gas station.  It is disgusting, I am full of vices.  I am a weak man.

Okay, back to the expedition.  I get to Payless and the first thing I see is a big piece of cardboard with a number 11 on it; three rows down the top there is a box with a pair of black shoes similar to the ones my dear mother wants, so I get them, I wondered if that "W" next to the number meant "wide"; I was afraid to ask; ha, they're only 29.95, what a deal.

As I turn around I see an "Airwalk" box with the number 11 on it, so I tried them on; they fit perfectly, and yeah they were men's shoes just in case you are wondering; I have enough pumps in the closet but I never use them since I don't pole-dance any more.  Of course I'm kidding.

At any rate; I got those too, they were only 25 bucks; but as I was trying them on, I remembered my generational problem, my socks have two holes in the back; well what do you expect if you have been wearing the same socks for the last 5 years?  You have to be kidding, the same pair of socks?  Not really, I have about 10 pairs of socks, but yeah they are all about 5 or more years old, they don't make them like they used to, now everything is made in China; might as well wear some toilet paper instead of socks, or maybe a bunch of my dog's hair, the floor in my house is full of it.

Oh yeah, the holes.  I had flash backs to my infancy; every time my parents took us kids to buy shoes every year, for school you know, they asked us if we checked our socks and made sure they didn't have holes on them; if they did, we had to go find a pair without ventilation and change them.  It was, and still is embarrassing when the shoe man is trying to fit your new shoes over the socks with the holes.

Back then, more than 40 years ago in Mexico City, we actually went to a shoe store where they fitted your shoes and tied them for you, all while you were sitting down on these cool chairs with inclined mirrors and little pedestals where you could put your feet; I haven't seen those in years; maybe I need to get out more; or maybe not.

More embarrassing was the part when you had to walk back and forth in front of everyone to see if they fit and felt good or not; 'how's the toe?'; 'oh it feels good, thank you, how about yours?'  What a trip.  It was all kind of ritualistic, buying good leather shoes was not possible for a lot of people, including us.

Anyway, I thought it is funny how something as simple as a hole in your sock can bring back all those memories from your childhood; the weird thing about it is that along with the memories comes the feeling of inadequacy; we all carry that kind of thing with us until we die; it is like a scratch on a vinyl record, you can't get rid of it; and if you try, you just make it worse, it becomes louder and uglier.

I praise God for His mercy; and His amazing grace.  He never makes fun of my ugliness, never mentions how stupid I look because I never look stupid to Him; He covers all my defects and my gross sins under the blood of the Lamb; and accepts me in The Beloved;  Jesus never wore socks, and the only holes He has are the ones on His hands and feet; they don't point to inadequacy but to supremacy.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

God works in you to will and to perform...

I have this devotional app called "Solid Joys" that I read on my phone, and today this is the message from John Piper:

 "Christianity means change is possible. Deep, fundamental change. It is possible to become tenderhearted when once you were callous and insensitive. It is possible to stop being dominated by bitterness and anger. It is possible to become a loving person no matter what your background has been.

The Bible assumes that God is the decisive factor in making us what we should be. With wonderful bluntness the Bible says, “Put away malice and be tenderhearted.” It does not say, “If you can…” Or: “If your parents were tender-hearted to you…” Or: “If you weren’t terribly wronged…” It says, “Be tender-hearted.”

This is wonderfully freeing. It frees us from the terrible fatalism that says change is impossible for me. It frees me from mechanistic views that make my background my destiny.  If I were in prison and Jesus walked into my cell and said, “Leave this place tonight,” I might be stunned, but if I trusted his goodness and power, I would feel a rush of hope that freedom is possible.

If it is night and the storm is raging and the waves are breaking high over the pier, and the Lord comes to me and says, “Set sail tomorrow morning,” there is a burst of hope in the dark. He is God. He knows what he is doing.

His commands are not throw-away words. His commands always come with freeing, life-changing truth to believe. For example, And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

1. God adopted us as his children. We have a new Father and a new family. This breaks the fatalistic forces of our “family-of-origin.” “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for one is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).

2. God loves us as his children. We are “loved children.” The command to imitate the love of God does not hang in the air, it comes with power: “Be imitators of God as loved children.” “Love!” is the command and being loved is the power.

3. God has forgiven us in Christ. Be tender-hearted and forgiving just as God in Christ forgave you. What God did is power to change. The command to be tender-hearted has more to do with what God did for you than what your mother did to you. This kind of command means you can change.

4. Christ loved you and gave himself up for you. “Walk in love just as Christ loved you.” The command comes with life-changing truth. “Christ loved you.”

At the moment when there is a chance to love and some voice says, “You are not a loving person,” you can say, “Christ’s love for me makes me a new kind of person. His command to love is just as surely possible for me as his promise of love is true for me.

Praying with you (and St. Augustine), “Lord command what you will and grant what you command!

”Pastor John"

I like John Piper; and Augustine; and of course I have to add my two cents.

I have read that prayer of St. Augustine somewhere else, I can't remember where; but when I read it today it really amazed me; this was a man who prayed like that more than 800 years ago, and today I find myself praying like that, realizing that the power to change has already been granted; change has become effective for God's children, for me.

If you have been walking with Jesus for a while, like 20 years, you must be in the same spot I am today; I feel like an old dog that can't learn new tricks. Sometimes I don't even want to learn new tricks; I just don't feel like it; and that is exactly what my problem is.  Change is not a matter of feeling, change is all about paradigm shifts; that is what pastor John is saying up there, isn't it?

What is change anyway?  Why do I need it?  If I need it...of course I do need it.  The bible calls change 'sanctification' and according to the word, sanctification is something God does to me, it is not me doing it to me.

It is not so much a matter of obedience or willingness, to me anyway, but it is a matter of walking in the Spirit. The main goal of change, or sanctification, is to be conformed to the image of the Son of God; Paul said that in Romans remember?   
Rom 8:28-32  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

Now, did you notice that in the chain of events Paul describes, he went from foreknowledge to predestination, to calling, to justification to glorification; but where is sanctification?  Did he miss it?  I don't think so; sanctification is concatenated into every step of the chain with the cuspid being our glorification.  Sanctification is the conformation; it rhymes and all...

Of course, I might be wrong in this, since I'm wrong all the time, but think about it and you will see what I mean. This means to me one thing; that according to those verses, I am holy; since glorified is in the past tense it is something that has already happened; in the timeline of God, I have been made holy, I have been sanctified; glorification is impossible without sanctification right?  And if he says that I have been glorified, it is obvious that I have been sanctified.

It is God who has done this, He started the work, and Paul says in Philippians that God will be faithful to complete it.  The word of God is the main instrument God uses to change us into the image of His Son, we all know that right? 

The thing is to read it and meditate on it really slowly, in fact Psalm 1 says that the blessed one is the one who meditates on it day and night; so it should be easy, or at least possible, to do it; but we have to fight, and the fight is really against the flesh, and of course against principalities and powers and so forth, but the flesh is the number one enemy of the word. 

Once I see that, everything becomes simple; I wish all life was as simple as that.

You have a nice day.  Oh, and smile, God loves you and He will not leave you the way you are.

Can you waste your time?

I don't feel like writing anything sometimes, but sometimes I have to; it helps me unload the thoughts that make my tiny world spin; this is one of those times.  My mind and heart are boggled with life in general; I worry about wasting it.

I might not even publish this post anyway, I guess I will wait to see where I end with it.

Life is very short, so amazingly short.  In some sense I hate it, and in another sense I am glad; I hate it because there is not enough time to do the things I want to do, and see the people I would like to see more often, people I love; and I am glad for the same reasons.  I know that doesn't make any sense, but not being able to see people I love more often makes me want to get out of here and just get this life over with, that way I can see them forever on the other side; and you know, forever is forever.

The strange thing about this kind of thinking is that I never thought that kind of thought before, at least not as deeply; it is as if the end was coming soon, I really hope I'm wrong, but it is the way it feels.  That floating point in the time-line is approaching the end of the race; it just has to end some day.

I remember in the distant past many occasions when people told me "such and such died yesterday", or the other day, and I was always surprised and thought it was a joke; you have to be kidding me, I just saw such and such the other day.  That is the way it goes sometimes I guess.

In this life every minute counts for something, in fact every second counts.  Life is really a matter of life and death.  It is a mystery, and I'm not kidding.

Has that ever happened to you?  Someone dies and you saw that person a few days ago, or months ago, or a year ago?  Doesn't it make you think about life and death?  About the seriousness of time?  I bet it has, and I bet it does.

Life, human life, is like a dream; sooner or later we all have to wake up from it and start the reality of eternity, the other dimension where there is no time boundaries, the place where there are no watches or clocks; there is no night there, I believe there is no night in eternity; for me it will be the kingdom of light.  I guess I won't be taking any naps there, no need to rest from anything, there will be no pain or sorrow there, and no telephones either.

Life is a paradox; I want to stay alive and I don't, all at the same time.  I think all people who believe in the same God I believe in feel like that; you want to be here and you don't; and the older you get, the more intense the feeling gets.  Eternity and heaven is in our hearts.

When I slowly think about that, about eternity, the more I think it would be useless without Jesus; heaven without Jesus is really a hell painted pink; just like this world becomes a dump without Him.  It is really all about Him and no one else; life, death, eternity, heaven, it is all about Jesus and His infinite grace; and man, how do I need His grace!

Then I think again, eternity is right now, in a sense.  If God lives in you, you are already in eternity, you are just waiting for the awakening; for the moment when He will open your eyes to true beauty, and true holiness and real righteousness; and I say real because I look at myself and I don't see it, I have to put on my faith-glasses to see me like He sees me, perfect as He is.  I don't like looking at myself without those glasses on, it's depressing.

Paul said that faith and hope abide now, but love will never end; you ever thought about that?  Faith will be no more; I will not need it when I'm there, the same as hope; why have hope for something you already have?  Why believe in someone I can't see right now when that someone is right before me?  All waiting will be over, there will be nothing to hope for, nothing to believe in the way I do now, faith will be totally fulfilled and only the love of God will continue, forever.  I'm probably wrong, as usual, but I don't care, it all sounds cool, and deep and serious.

I do have hope, and I do have faith right now; it is very strange but I kind of got used to it, even if I don't want to believe I still do.  I wake up every morning with this faith that will not go away; and I still believe the gospel.  I think it is supernatural.  That is a wonder for me; I crave the supernatural and I have it every single morning.  It's a miracle.

Life is also a trial.  At least to me it is; it is a constant trial with a few resting moments; those come when God wants; and I enjoy them all.  Then my faith has to be tested some more; that means I need a lot of testing, and all the fruits of trial, like perseverance, and endurance, and character, and hope; you know, the kind that Paul says does not disappoint, you know what I mean?

Ok, it has taken me three days to finish this and I'm going to close it right here, but before I do, I ask you, the one who reads this, are you wasting your life?  Can you really waste your life, your time on this earth?  I think about that constantly, so I guess I will make you trip out and think about that too.  Seriously, can you really waste your time being a Christian?  Think about it.  2Tim. 2:22

Have a nice day..

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Stand with Israel...

I just got an email from Liberty Counsel asking for help and for my signature on a letter of solidarity with our ally Israel; if you already signed it, good; if not, I dare you to do it.  Here is the invitation:

Dear Friend,

I have signed a letter of support for the Nation of Israel which will be delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Ambassador Susan Rice, and members of Congress.
which will be hand delivered.

 In light of the current Middle East chaos and our current government's failed foreign policies, this letter issues an unwavering statement of support for Israel.

I encourage you to join me in this cause. Simply go here to sign the letter:

http://www.libertyaction.org/370/petition.asp?PID=37543871&NID=1

God bless you!



http://makariotes.blogspot.com

You have a purpose.....

“Since the finite creation through its whole range exists as a medium through which God manifests His glory, and since it is absolutely dependent on Him, it of itself could originate no conditions which would limit or defeat the manifestation of that glory. From all eternity God has purposed to do just exactly what He is doing.” Lorraine Boettner.

In other words: Nothing escapes God's attention, nothing moves or breathes without God's hand moving to make it happen, in the midst of the billions and billions of grains of sand on the beaches of this earth, not a single one moves without His all seeing power behind it, in all the billions and trillions, and infinite-illions of stars in the universe, and the countless atoms that form everything in the created order, not a single one is missing and it is in the exact position in which God intended it to be; from eternity past to eternity future.  You are reading this because He wants you to know it.

My faith tells me it's true, and my daily experience confirms it is true, God reigns just as He says He does.  The bible says that God directs the hearts of men as if they were rivers of water, He directs them in whatever way He wants, just as He did on election day; in the book of Daniel says that to YHWH all the inhabitants of this earth are as a drop in a bucket, as the dust on the scales, counted as nothing, and that He reigns over the armies of heaven and earth, and no one can stay His hand, or ask Him "what are you doing?".

Sometimes things happen in this world that affect our lives directly, as is the case of this past Tuesday; and the only way to not get discouraged or depressed, the only way to continue to trust in God's omnipotence and divine providence, is to get a massive dose of God's sovereignty; I need to inject it right into my brain.

Last night God reminded me of Romans 9, read it and you will know exactly what I'm thinking about; but it says there that the reason why Pharaoh was raised up into power was just so that God's awesome power and glory would be manifested, and that all the earth would know about it; all the earth knew it in fact, and God, the Great YHWH, is famous because of that one event.

God is even more famous now; the apex of the glory of His grace, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus about two thousand years ago, split time in two; now every single human being acknowledges that event when they look at the calendar or write the date down; the fact that all the earth knows that today is November 09 of the year 2012, demonstrates that God is sovereign. 

His awesome power and glory will shine again when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  I am a witness of the events that are setting the stage for Jesus awesome and grand return, you are also a witness of that fact.

But I am a witness also of God's glorious grace and mercy; He has delivered me from the darkness of this world, my eyes have been opened, my heart of stone has been replaced with a heart of flesh, and God's love has been shed abroad in it through His Spirit that seals me unto the day of redemption; you and I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and nothing can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus.  We are walking miracles of His grace in action.

You and I have been predestinated to become sons and daughters of the Almighty King of Heaven and earth; He created us for such a time like this.  You and I were born and raised exactly in the place and time of His choosing; He gave us the parents He chose, the brothers and sisters He chose, He has given us the children He chose (if you have kids); He determined beforehand what kind of lifestyle we would lead, what kind of experiences we would go through; and at the appointed time, He called us out of the darkness and translated us into the kingdom of light of His dear Son.

All the people in our lives have been predestined to be in our lives; we live in a country, a state, a county, a city, a neighbourhood and a street address that He has chosen for us; even when we think that we have made all those decisions, we haven't.  We have a certain amount of money and a very specific job He has placed us in, all without us giving Him any help.

Every day we can see how He turns this earth so that we can see the light of the sun, every night He displays His handiwork for all to see and be in awe of Him; every single night we close our eyes and go to sleep and He takes care of waking us up in the morning.  The whole earth is full of His glory.  The animal kingdom gets its daily sustenance without Him breaking into sweat; God is full of mercy and grace for His creatures.  He blows my mind.

While we remain in this world we have a mission, a purpose, we are part of the grand design of the God who reigns over all; so be strong, and be courageous; you cannot fail; walk in His ways and love people with the love of Jesus, stand in the gap for those who are being delivered to the slaughter, fight on your knees, and be satisfied in God above all things; He is most glorified we we are.

Remember your chief end: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Have a nice day, and be blessed.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

How do I love?

Last time I asked the question, how do you decide whom to love?  And as I was thinking about it, God reminded me that I already know the answer to it.   I'm supposed to love God first, then my neighbor as myself, period, there is no decision to be made.  It is not any more complicated than that; the hard part is embracing the idea that I need to, no, I have to, love others; and the hardest part of that is figuring out how to do it.  The thing about it is that there is nothing to be figured out; it is something you just do.

Jesus said this in Luke 6:35  'But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil'.

Ok, the way I read that, is that it is a direct commandment to love even my enemies, to do good, and lend.  Really?  Is it not a suggestion?  Or a 'would be nice if you do' kind of a thing?  Nope, it is a command, to love your enemies.  That's hard.  It is not hard, it is impossible.

Yeah, it is election day, election night by now, and I am over here pounding on this keyboard trying to take the issue apart; I should be glued to the T.V. watching the media coverage just like at least half of this country is doing right now, and trying to figure out how the electoral college works; but no, I had to debate with myself as to what is the best way to put into practice what I have already been gifted with.  So I warn you, this might turn into a long post (ok, maybe not) since I don't have cable and I don't watch T.V., which in a way is a blessing. I think Obama is going to be re-elected anyway and this is more important to me right now.

Anyway, so how do I love others the way Jesus commands me to do it?  You read the verse above, it is clearly a commandment to be obeyed, isn't it?  But in order to put this reasoning of mine into perspective I need to add the whole context of Jesus' words; so here it is:


Luke 6:26-49  "Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;  give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."
He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn-bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?
Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

There is no possible way that I could talk about every single verse in the passage above, but one thing becomes obvious to me right away; if everybody speaks well about you then something is wrong, but in a way it is impossible to know what others say or think about you. Then Jesus says "but I say to those of you who hear"; it reminds me of the other many times that He said "he whom has ears to hear, let him hear"; this obviously refers to those who are able to "hear" His words, and that means the ones who have been born again, the righteous, the saints; you, and I.  I know this because later He says, 'even sinners do the same'; which of course indicates that those who "hear" are not in the same group as the "sinners".

Those who hear are the same people in John 6:44-45  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- .  Do you see that?

Then all these action words come in rapid succession: love, do good, bless, pray, offer, wish, do, lend, be merciful, forgive, give. And in the negative; 'condemn not', 'judge not', 'expect nothing'.  Of course it takes to be God in human flesh to be able to put all those words in such a beautiful way; and to pack such a great self-sacrifice in such a short paragraph.  Are you seeing what I am seeing here?  I hope so.

The way of love is the way of the Son of God, it is God's way; and it is God's love that has to be practiced; this is why I said that it is impossible to do it, because I can't do it on my own strength, I need God to love through me, His way.

To love is to do good, with thoughts and actions; it is to bless others by the way I speak about people and to people; to love is to pray for them, even when I don't want to, to pray that God would open their eyes to see His beauty and His majesty, His grace and mercy, and His love demonstrated by Jesus dying on the cross; to love is to offer myself first to God as a living sacrifice, and then to others to help them, to comfort them, to be the shoulder on which they can cry and lean on; to love is to do good as He did good at every possible opportunity, it is to lend not only my money but my mind and heart, my words, my thoughts, my ears, my hands and my attention; it is to be merciful, putting myself in the shoes of those who suffer and who are sad, and depressed about their lives and their losses; yeah, to love is to forgive those who have hurt me, either in  real or imaginary ways and to remember that I have received more mercy than I have ever deserved; to love the way Jesus says to love is to condemn not, to judge not, and when needed, to judge with righteous judgement; and my friend, to love His way is above all, to expect nothing in return, ever; knowing that in Him I own all things and that my reward is already great in living one more day on this earth.

Oh how I want to love the way Jesus loves me; how I pray that He will be pleased when I do it!

This is my challenge and I pose it to you the same way, to love is a one way road; a narrow and straight road that ends at the foot of the cross of Jesus; stay on it.

Have a nice day tomorrow, and be blessed.


http://makariotes.blogspot.com

From politics to immortality.....

I had a conversation with a young man yesterday, which ended in total frustration; what made it worse was the fact that the young man in question is my daughter's boyfriend; I really thought he was brighter, or I should say smarter, but it turned out that he is being deceived, along with thousands of other young men and women around this beautiful country.

I almost exploded when to the question: you think the government should be bigger?.....he responded: 'well, yeah, of course'.  Say what?  We should have a bigger government?  My, oh my.

I know, it is all my fault for instigating the conversation; and like a fool, I ignored my daughter's warnings; but hey, when someone thinks and believes that Qaddafi, or however you spell his name, is the president of Saudi Arabia, then you know the guy is pretty misinformed.

The cuspid of irritation came when I asked if the loss of billions of dollars of tax-payer's money, (your money, his money, my money), caused by the government investing in "renewable energy" companies bothered him; he responded that it was actually a good thing because it generated research in new technologies.  The waste of billions of dollars is a good thing when is done in "research" for new batteries; it is laughable.

He is also against "big businesses" like Walmart; gee, he sounded just like the dudes from "occupy Wall Street", I was dumbfounded, he went on to explain how big businesses like Walmart force the little guy to close its doors, and of course he blamed Bush for that, I'm serious, he did.

Like I said, it is my fault for asking if he was going to vote on Tuesday (he said the election was already decided); who am I to ask something like that?  It is almost like asking: are you going poo tomorrow?  It is a private thing you know.

It really bothers me, it bothers me so much that I haven't stopped praying for him; it is obvious he voted for Obama 4 years ago; what a shame.  I ended the conversation by saying goodbye, closing my garage door, and reminding him how screwed he will be when the full impact of Obamacare hits him on the face next year; that is all I could do....the last words I heard were from my daughter: I love you Dad.

Apart from that, nothing has changed, really.  I am still satisfied with knowing that God is still on the throne and He reigns supreme over this earth and the universe, and it is Him that ultimately appoints the rulers of this earth.  I just pray for His mercy on my daughters and my grand kids.

I wish I could choose my daughter's boyfriends, but I can't.  It is one of those mysterious things in the universe; how do you decide whom to love?  I can't make that kind of decision, I can decide whom to vote for, but not whom to love; I just love people, I just do and I don't question why; do you?

What I mean is, how do you decide who it is whom you must love?  I know I must love God, with all my heart, mind and strength, but that is all I know.  Of course it is obvious that I must love those people whom God has placed in my life, and I think I have done that, to the best of my ability, I have.  Even though some of them have tested my patience.

Then I have that other mystery of loving someone who is not interested in me at all, yeah we are friends, but that is all.  I have expressed my intentions, my feelings, my thoughts, I have even demonstrated them, maybe coarsely sometimes, but I have; and there is no response; it baffles me; until I appear before God, and then I understand that it is not in me to cause love; it has to be God who inclines the heart of a person towards another; there is no way to force the issue.  So I stopped pursuing and continued waiting.  So be it.  Maybe it is my destiny to be remain alone, maybe it's just infatuation; the heart is deceitful above all things.....

As you can tell, my mind is kind of spinning from one topic to another; this life is really a trip, and human nature is a mystery, another mystery.  Life is full of mysteries, it is fascinating.

I am 53 years old and life has gone by so extremely fast, insanely fast; does that happen to you?  Life appears to fly by?  It is weird.  It all seems like a dream, those are the same words I just said to my mom over the phone, life is just like a dream; she heartily agreed, she is 81.

But really, according to Psalm 90, the measure of our days is 70 years, or maybe 80; and according to experience, it is true; 25,550 days is all we've got; think about it, only about 4 thousand weekends; yeah I said it before in another post, I repeat myself a lot lately; but it is enlightening to see life that way, and just like Moses says in that Psalm, a thousand years in God's calendar is just like a dream; then he humbly asks for the ability to know the measure of our days so that we can attain a heart of wisdom; it is wisdom indeed to know our frame.

In view of the above I can either be depressed or be blessed; it all depends on my frame of mind at the moment I think about it; I can easily get depressed to know that I only have about a thousand weekends left, or I can be excited to know that soon I will see the King face to face.

Anyway, I'm done rambling.  I hope you have a great week, and please, don't waste your life.

Be blessed.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Abortion and the campaign for immorality..

Nothing to say, just that I so agree; it is a shame and we need to make people aware of this; it is up to you to share with as many people as possible.
Pray for this nation.
Click on the video to start, if you are getting this via email, go to the blog and watch it there, or go to GTY.ORG

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I have been lied to, again....

As you very well know, the president of this country has been caught in several lies, blatant lies; the last one and most important one in the last month has been the one about the You Tube video that triggered a spontaneous mob against our embassy in Libya.

For two weeks the White House spoon fed us the lie that the reason why our ambassador was dead, along with three other Americans, two of them ex-Navy Seals, was because an angry group of people, Muslims, got offended when they saw a video mocking their god, and stormed the embassy.

There is a series of documents that have come to light that prove that in fact the president and his staff knew it was a very well planned and coordinated terror attack, this on the 9-11 anniversary, and not a meager mob reaction to a video making fun of the Muslim god.

On the second presidential debate, Obama lied and said that he called the attack a terror event; which he did not, he mentioned terror attacks that day at the white house, but he was referring to 9-11 itself, not to the embassy attack.

When the news of the ambassador's death came up on the 12th, and at the same time the story of the video, I didn't believe it for a second, did you?  Like I said before, I don't have cable, and I don't watch TV, but that doesn't really matter, what matters is that the truth about this government (like we didn't know the truth about it) is coming to the surface little by little, and thank God it is timely, right before the election.  But the truth about this president has been out there even before he became president; his mentoring by communists and radical extremists, and lately it has been demonstrated the he has openly embraced the Muslim Brotherhood, so much so that they are a prime influence in our domestic and external policy.

In fact there are five congressmen including a congress woman, who are actively investigating the infiltration of our government by the Muslim Brotherhood; why is this important?  Because their main agenda is to institute Sharia law not only in the middle east in general but also in the US.

I have always hated politics, and I still do; people will do and say anything to acquire power and prestige; but this time it is all different and that is why I am writing about it.  You and I need to be in the same page for the sake of our kids and our friends and our neighbors; the same page of the book of truth.

President Obama promised to fundamentally change the United States of America; and if he gets another 4 years in power, he will fulfill his promise, in fact I think he is almost there.  Freedom as you and I know it will disappear from the face of this country, that is a fact.

About three days ago, I received a CD by Pastor John McArthur in which he calls the Democratic Party's agenda, "the sins of Romans One platform", and he goes on to explain why; one of their main points of their promotion is abortion, freedom to kill the unborn, "in the safest place on earth: the mother's womb".  It is disgusting; you should listen to the message in Grace to You's website GTY.org.

I have a friend who works in a huge transnational company, and he has told me they are vehemently pushing the GLBT agenda; what is that?  It is the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender agenda; and where is the push coming from?  You guessed it, from our new government, mainly the Obama administration.  I could write for hours about everything that is running through my mind right now but I won't.

The reason I am writing this is so that you know that I know the truth; and so you can talk to every body within your reach about where this country is going; it doesn't look promising if we get this guy again.

Of course I believe that God is still in control of all things and that it is Him who actually appoints people to be the heads of governments; and I also believe that we should obey the bible when it says that we should pray for those in authority so that we can lead peaceful and happy lives; lives of honor, lives that glorify our God, the only true God.

Election day is coming and we all need to go and vote; if you don't vote, your vote will be for Obama and for a government of lies and corruption; you know what the options are.

We all need to do something, and that something is voting; and also, say something; wake up, and say something.  I am.

God reigns supreme; have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Understanding Obama

If you have the time this makes a lot of sense, watch it (you got to put up with the ad at the beginning of the video):

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4355410/

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

More birds of the air.....

That nebula above is called "Thor's Helmet", click on it to see it full size.  Amazing.

Do you have anything that God uses to remind you of His faithfulness and His provision?  I think every believer has something, it could be the sky, a tree, your dog, or your cat, or the birds of the air.  For me, and since I began walking with Jesus, it has been hummingbirds.

About a week ago, my grand kids and I hung a hummingbird feeder in the backyard; I have always enjoyed looking at them and remembering that time when God spoke to me through one of those tiny birds.

This morning I was standing right next to the feeder just looking at the neighbor's tree, a huge Macadamia nut tree; it is a beautiful sight, it is a big tree indeed; then suddenly I hear something right next to my left ear, it sounded like a big bug and it freaked me out because I don't like bugs.

It turned out to be a hummingbird, flying about a foot away from my head, as I turned to look, it just hovered around my head, so I said, 'Hi little one, go ahead', and I took two steps back so he could reach the feeder; so there he was, about two feet from my eyes drinking that red fluid; I was mesmerized, all I could think was "God you are amazing", and this is amazing; I'm not kidding, I could have reached out and grabbed him, he was so close. 

It never fails, just when I think I'm not going to make it, God reminds me that He has never left me, nor forsaken me, and He never will; and I know the same is true for you if you have the same faith I have, if you believe in the same God I believe in; the only true God, YHWH is His name. 

Right after I saw the humming bird I went and sat down to read my bible, I'm going through the book of Psalms; and this is what King David says in Psalm 37: 'I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread; he is ever lending generously and his children become a blessing'.  What a coincidence.

Jesus said to look at the birds of the air and consider them, they neither sow nor reap, nor store anything into barn houses, yet my Father in heaven feeds them, are you not of more worth than they?  Yes I am; He also said that not a single sparrow falls from the air without God knowing, again, pointing to the worth of a human life over the animals, mostly the life of one of His children.

It is very strange how some people place more worth on animals than people; there are some people who are giving their lives over to save the whales, and the dolphins, and the dogs and cats, but they don't say a single word of opposition about abortion; these are the same people who say they deserve the government to give them free condoms and contraceptives so they can fornicate freely, and they are the same people who want the liberty of killing an unborn child for the sake of their pitiful lives of comfort; so they can go and save some more whales.  Then we have those who don't even want to eat steak because they say we are killing the cows; poor cows, they are delicious.  It is the apex of stupidity and self centered-ness.

Of course not all people who love and help animals are the same, I'm just talking about the extreme animal lovers; you know the kind, the ones who say grizzly bears are so cute and they try to go live in the forests of Alaska without a gun; yeah, the same ones who ended up being eaten by grizzly bears, you remember that story?

Anyway, I know a couple of sisters who rescue dogs and cats from the streets; I guess there is a big network of people who do that, I commend them, and I do because I couldn't do that; but I guess that is the way God takes care of some of those homeless cats and dogs.  I have never seen a homeless hummingbird, I don't even know of any one who rescues them.

Oh oh, I think I'm going to start ranting about the liberals, sorry, all I wanted to do was to give God the glory for reminding me that He makes much of me, so that I can make much of Him; and of course I wanted to make you think about Jesus, about how good He is to His children.  I hope I did.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I shouldn't complain...

If you are not healthy then everything in life loses its importance, doesn't it?  When I don't feel good physically I have no interest in doing anything; I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to watch movies, I don't want to write in the blog, I don't even feel like reading the bible; all that I can think is "help me God, be merciful to me, a sinner".

Feeling sick or in pain makes me very grumpy, I tend to isolate; all I want to do is lay down and close my eyes and just let my mind wander off into la-la-land; it is a horrible thing to be in pain.  What makes it worse is that sometimes I feel that people really don't care, and that they don't understand; as if no one has any empathy. Of course that is not a true statement.

Then to make things worse, I start thinking about the past, mostly about things I have done that were extremely wrong and sinful; and also about the things people have done to me.  I have a hard time forgiving those who have hurt me; I usually don't talk about it with anyone but the thoughts just pop up in my brain, mainly in the morning after I wake up, sometimes I spend the first hour of my day thinking about it; then I come back to the present and feel the sickness and the pain; everything looks dark in the morning sometimes.

I could write a long list of things that make me sick just thinking about them; starting with being depressed about how my life is going; I feel there is no hope, time is flying, life is going by and escaping from me, just like oily water through my fingers; and I think just like everybody else: "you are a Christian, you should not be depressed, you got to try harder".  What a bunch of bull.....; I feel like cussing up a storm, and sometimes I do, which is not very uplifting either; the good thing is my kids are not around when I do that; I'm such a bad example.

Where can find any comfort?  Who will listen to my complaints?  Who cares?  Is there any one who loves me?  Who wants to spend time with me?  Does any body really care?  No one wants to hang out with me; I'm so boring.

That's what a friend told me once, "Alex you are so boring"; and I thought, yeah I am boring alright, all I want to do is talk about Jesus and drink coffee; where is the fun in that?  If she only knew....

All of the above disappears when I look to Jesus.  He is glorious, and He made me for His glory.  I don't really understand how that can be, but He says He did; and the Dort divines say that it is my chief end, my special purpose, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever; and forever is something I really look forward to.  To enjoy God forever.

Everything I said at the beginning does not mean I don't enjoy God now; on the contrary, I really enjoy hearing those words inside my brain: "therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..."  I really enjoy that; I enjoy the fact that God predestined me, I enjoy knowing that He called me, that He justified me, that He is sanctifying me, that He will complete the work He started in me, and that He will glorify me in that day when I will see Him with these myopic eyes.

Do all things without grumbling or complaining, He says; in everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you, He says; pray without ceasing, He says; love the brotherhood, honor the king; the bible is full of that kind of thing, you know, commandments to be obeyed.  But I find myself in that obvious position; constantly knowing, day after day, that it is impossible to obey them all the time.  That is the very reason I enjoy knowing that Jesus' righteousness and obedience has been imputed unto me; so, not only does God The Father sees me as righteous as Jesus, but also as obedient as Him.

One of the things I really enjoy knowing, and I believe it with all my heart, is that God's wrath is not hanging over my head anymore; when I think about what kind of wrath is coming upon the children of disobedience, of which I was part, it makes me tremble with fear.

I think that is one of the problems with the church today; the "new gospel" is about God being useful to humans, it is about all the help you will get if you believe, it is all about feeling good about yourself because God loves you, He loves everybody the same they say, He has a plan for your life and He wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed.

It all sounds very appealing to the human heart; but no one mentions that God is in reality angry with you because you have broken all of His commands, you don't deserve to be helped, and in fact you don't have an idea about what holiness is all about, a holiness that is not, and has not been, present in your life since you were born; you naturally despise anything that is holy and righteous, anything that resembles or reminds you of the purity of the Creator.  We were all in that position at one point in time.

That is why the classic biblical gospel is so exciting, it is the good news indeed; God's wrath has been taken from me, and has been placed upon the Son of God, and His righteousness imputed unto me; no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and walk according to the Spirit.  Thank you Jesus.

The real gospel is the cure to all my complaints; of course I should not complain, no one should complain; it brings nothing good and it shows ungratefulness for what I have already been blessed with; and I don't like the idea of being ungrateful when all I have gotten in life is blessings; all I have to do is look around me, God blesses me every single day, I am surely a blessed man.

So I confess that I complain sometimes, and God forgives me; even that has been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more.

"He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our iniquities; for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust"  Psalm 103.

Have a nice day without complaints.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The birds of the air....

I got up this morning at about 7 searching for coffee, as always, luckily I had some left over from yesterday afternoon; popped it in the microwave and went outside to the backyard to have a smoke.

Every morning I feel like I'm carrying a sack of rocks on my back, I can barely move. As I started walking down the steps; my eyes froze. I could not believe it, and I couldn't because I have never seen anything like it so close. A Red Tailed Hawk was standing on the grass looking at me; what? I thought, that is amazing. His long legs covered with feathers, something black was moving under him and he kept on squeezing it with all his power.

I went down another step, and had to stop again; he was stepping on something that I could not see, yeah I need to cut the grass again, I just did it last week; my eyes are watery in the morning so I can't see very well and I wanted to rub them but I was afraid to scare him away.

He kept on stepping and moving his talons on something black; he just kept looking at me, almost like saying 'what's your problem?' When he finally took flight I realized he had killed another bird in the air and had landed in my backyard; his prey was a black bird with white feathers, I really don't know what they are called but they are every where around here.

This hawk was pretty big, his wingspan was probably close to 60 inches, and he had a pretty pissed off look on his eyes, man, I thought, what a sight, what a cool thing to see to start the day, this is the first time in my life I see something like it; I was just so grateful of being alive.

As I sat down on my chair, the memory came about another morning when I let the dog out; I was watching him to see where he went to pee; I did not want him to kill the grass, so I had the garden hose ready to flush the spot where he went peeing; as I open the nozzle of the hose and directed the stream towards the grass, then suddenly something came down from a tree and started fluttering around the mist of the water stream of the hose.

I couldn't see very well so I thought it was a bumble bee, so I tried to hit it with the water stream, but it kept dodging it and kept coming back to the mist around the hose stream; what the heck, that is a big bug, and he likes water; as I looked closer, I was floored; the supposed bumble bee was a tiny humming bird!! It was not any taller than an inch; it was a baby humming bird taking a bath in the water mist.

Man what a show. I was giggling like a little girl; then this awesome sense of security came all over me; and I remembered the words of Jesus: 'look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, and your Father in heaven takes care of them'; I started weeping, I cried with a grateful heart.

Oh what a sentimental fool, you might think; but humming birds and I go back a long way in time. Almost as long as I've been a Christian.

Back around 1991 or 92; I couldn't find a job. My daughters were tiny little girls, and I needed to provide for them, and I can't remember the details but I ended up cleaning pools with Eutychus. One day we went to clean this back yard pool in Imperial Beach, and that day I had been praying all morning, you know, just talking to God all day; so as I was skimming the leaves from the surface of the water in the pool; this humming bird came out of nowhere and it suspended itself at about three feet from my face, just hovering above the pool at my eye level.

I was paralyzed looking at this bird floating in front of my face; then I heard the word of Jesus: 'look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, and your Father in heaven feeds them'; of course I started weeping, I always do when God speaks to me that way.

From then on, I have been seeing humming birds everywhere I go; every time I have moved to a new place, I see humming birds; in one of the condos I rented, they even had a nest in one of the trees in the yard; think about it, a humming bird nest; so tiny, I never seen anything like it. I watched that nest during the rainy season, and the mother humming bird stayed on top of that tiny nest and did not flinch; it rained hard that time, and she didn't move from the nest; she had chicks. What a trip.

Humming birds are amazing; their wings move in a figure 8, just like an infinity sign; and they fly like helicopters; their wings flap up to 80 times per second, and some can live more than ten years, which is a long time.

Anyway, I had to write about the hawk; and of course make you think about Jesus; next time you are worried about money, or anything for that matter, look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, and your Father in heaven takes care of them; are you not more important than a sparrow, or a hawk, or a humming bird?

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The Center of the Universe...

Click the picture.....

As usual, the month of August flew by, and we are already in the middle of September. Wasn't it Christmas just the other day? It is incredible how fast time is going, life is really a vapor, just like God says it is.

Soon it will be Christmas again and another year will be gone forever; have you been redeeming the time? I am not sure I have. My days are a succession of snapshots that fade into the distant past, all the way to when I was about 3 years old. I remember changing my little brother's diapers in kindergarten, I remember I was just riding my tricycle just the other day; it was red for sure, and I left it in the sidewalk, and it got stolen, bummer.

I remember I was crying in the front yard about something I can't recall; and I heard a voice saying "Son do not cry any longer"; I thought it was God speaking, a very low toned voice that came from the sky; but it wasn't God, it was my grand father talking to me from his bedroom in the second floor of the house; I do not remember his face anymore, but I remember his voice, it scared me and I stopped crying.

Do you remember when you were a child and you had no worries at all? Do you remember the dark shapes that moved in the bedroom closet at night? "El Coco" The bogeyman? Do you remember what made it go away, and what caused you to fear no more? For me it was my mom, and sometimes my dad; their voice and their touch comforted me; I felt like I was in a castle when they were near; what an awesome feeling of security, of love.

That is how I feel when I go to bed now, both scared and comforted at the same time. My fear is not the dark or El Coco anymore, but I fear not waking up in the morning and not seeing my kids anymore, my grand kids, my mom and my brothers, and my friends; and my comfort is knowing whom I will see if I don't wake up in this body, I will see Jesus. My faith tells me so.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, I hate it; I hear the same thing every month. I have never written anything about it before, I don't know why, I guess I don't like to complain, it doesn't do me any good; but I'm getting it in the record: I feel like I'm getting worse; I know because I called the doctor's office twice, the first time I ever call, in 6 years, because of the way I was feeling. I got no call back, can you believe it? No one called me back!! He is going to hear from me tomorrow; I'm going to unload all my frustrations on that poor man; heck he is not poor, he is rich, but he is poor, it's not going to go well for him and his employees tomorrow.

I don't want to change doctors again; so I will have to just speak my mind and see what happens; I know nothing is going to happen, but I will feel better after I unload on him.

Maybe I won't say anything. I'll go, get my prescription for the pain meds, and then thank God that I have medical attention; yeah maybe that is what I will do.

Everything I have said so far has a point. Have you noticed yet?

I have talked about myself all this time. I used the word "I" about 53 times already, and that doesn't include the word "my"; and so far, everything I said it's true.

My point is that we are all like that; we are all in the center of our little worlds; we are basically the center of our universes, as little as they are, and our thoughts are mostly spent thinking about our own selves; isn't that horrible? It is.

It gets old, but it is what it is, it is human nature we are like that, we are all the same; the human heart is self centered by birth; totally depraved, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; that is what God thinks about the human race; we are desperately wicked. That is a very pitiful condition we are in; that is exactly why we need Jesus; I need Jesus, yes "I" need Jesus.

Okay, I hope I made you think about me. Just kidding; I hope I made you think about yourself, and about Jesus, and about how much you and I need Him; I hope I made you think about how fleeting life is, and about how good God has been to you all these years, and I hope you have a beautiful day. Now you can smile, God is good.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Little white lies...

Have you ever felt like someone was lying to you?

I have nothing to boast about, I am nothing; but God has given me the strange ability to discern when someone is lying to me; I have no idea what I would call it, but sometimes I hate it. It is more like an impression, but it is so convincingly strong, that it actually screams at me "that's a lie"; and I hate it. As it turns out, 100 percent of the times I have had that impression, it turns out to be the truth about it, someone just lied to me.

I wish I could just believe everything people say to me at all times; but I can't. The worst thing about this strange gift, or strange curse maybe, is that it only happens, or mostly happens, with people I care about; that is what makes me hate it, because I think, why not just tell me the truth? Is it fear to hurt my feelings? Or looking like an idiot in my eyes? The worst thing about it, one more thing about it, is that I wish they could just not say anything instead of lying, and there is nothing I can do about it, and it makes me lie too: "it's ok, don't worry about it". Well, no, it is not ok, and yes, they should worry about it.

Unfortunately, even with the ones who claim to be regenerate, it is human nature to hide our mistakes; to run and hide behind words. God hates lying for the same exact reason; He doesn't want me to make excuses but to accept the fact that I sinned, so if I sinned, I should confess and repent; that is pleasing to Him.

Have you ever wonder why there is a commandment that says, thou shalt not lie? "Oh well, I am not under the law", you say. Really? You are not under the law so you think it is okay to lie? I think your interpretation of the scriptures is twisted. We are not under the law to be slaves to it, but it doesn't mean we can just do away with the law. Jesus came to fulfill the law for us but we are still bound to live without breaking the law; the New Testament is filled with commands that are equivalent to all the commandments in the old, just do a little study on your own and you will see.

So why am I writing about this? Well, I woke up at about 10 am, thinking "that was a lie, what a story"; and it has been bothering me all morning. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that I am exactly the same way; sometimes I lie, I still practice what we call 'little white lies'; and it really bothers me.

What made still a deeper impression in my mind, is that yesterday I was babysitting my grand kids, and in one of our conversations we started talking about heroes; of course I ended up saying that Jesus is my hero; then I said, 'if you want to be my hero, tell the truth all the time and you will be"; my grand daughter said "ok grampa, I will". Was she lying? I don't think so; she was totally sincere; in her mind she wants to be my hero and so she said that she will tell the truth all the time; I know that is not possible, but I believed her.

Anyway, I had to write all of the above to just get it out of my brain, and I hope it doesn't bother you, I'm not lying.

One day soon, I will finally be free from this flesh, I will be free from the struggle; I will finally be transformed into the image of God's Son, and there will be no more lies, no more trying to justify myself before the eyes of men, and women, I will be free to worship in Spirit and in truth; I will not have to cry out "God help me" all the time, I'm really looking forward to that glorious day. I am really looking forward to that holy congruency between my words and my deeds.

Have a nice day, and that's no lie.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com