There is a well known phrase that says…

“If you don’t STAND for something

you will fall for anything.”

As I have matured, which is a high sounding way of saying ” as I have grown older”…..

I really believe that phrase about taking a STAND is true.

 

As a man,

I know it is vital to consider things,

go through a process

make a decision

and take a STAND.

 

When I was in high school and college, and when it came to other people’s ideas and political thought….

I was a ship at full sail but without a rudder in the water.

My mind could be swayed with the changing of the wind.

I had developed no rudder for a directed course.

 

In the arena of spiritual things, I was less affected by the atmosphere around me because of the love, respect and devotion I felt for my father and mother, and the God they had raised me to revere and know.

I had a stance on some things….but I was mostly standing on the shoulders of the influential people around me…..parents, coaches, teachers, preachers and parents of friends.

Standing on the shoulders of others is a credit to the stances they have taken and is respectful and a correct thing to do….for a while.

 

But without a Stance of our own we have no identity.

And when those whose shoulders we have stood on are gone,

we are lost.

At some point in life we cannot allow others to take steps we need to take.

 

At some crossroad in the journey of the life that is solely ours…

we have to solidify the stance we know is right for us, dig in a bit, and take a Stand on who we are, what we believe and on what things we will not give ground.

 

I know it is a good thing to have an open mind, to respect the opinion and stance others take…

however, if you do not know in what you believe or in what you areas you would not negotiate….

then the latest thought…

the fashionable position….

becomes your latest stance

and you never really stand for anything

because you are for everything.

 

If you are for everything,

you believe in nothing.

 

Read that again and consider the thought.

 

The Man to whom I have chosen to be conformed

very seldom condemned anyone,

showed love to all but a very few,

asserted Himself only in particular situations…

allowed others their positions….

but took a STAND.

He never deviated from It….

and in so doing

changed those around Him

affected history

and is Himself, the Stand that all of creation will eventually bow to.

 

If you are for everything

you believe in nothing.

 

Is there anything that will come down the road of your existence,

to which you will put your foot down in front of, and say NO….????

 

The behavioral and cultural descent we have seen occur throughout history puts topics and actions in front of us that we cannot always simply accept as the right thing.

These things might be current and show that you have “evolved”…..

but that really means that you have simply shifted with the latest breeze.

 

There are many of these actions and topics that any thinking person must consider and then Stand against.

As well, there are topics and actions we must consider and Stand for.

 

When we become “of age”

there are those things we must Stand against

and there are things we must Stand for

even in the face of adversity and disagreement.

For when you know in what you believe

you can then know what things you are for

or against.

 

Knowing these two things….it is more important to know what you Stand for

than what you stand against.

 

Do not sit idly by and allow life and events to sail by you…..taking you astray by every wind that changes and shifts so fashionably and often.

 

There must be a rudder in the water for a vessel to stay on course.

 

Be a constant.

Be one who others know as a Lighthouse,

beaming a constant light,

standing TRUE against changing and shifting winds.

Put your rudder in the water and set a firm directed course.

 

Take a Stand.

It always does.

So many things in life flow from HOW BIG

your vision of God is.

His Role in history,

the canon of The Bible,

His Role in the writing of The Bible,

Miracles,

the validity and power of Scripture,

His Role, in not just history,

but in daily, everyday life…..

is seen by each person according to their vision

of how big and powerful,

God is.

According to The Bible I read, The Creator of all things is involved in all of History. If you read the Old Testament, you will see references to the “scarlet thread of redemption”. This is nothing other than the Hand of God consistently leading people and orchestrating events to accomplish His Plan.

The God I read about in the Old Testament did not have to be consistently at work everyday, making sure Man did not mess up His Plan.

Jehovah God could have simply spoken into existence, His Plan, at Creation…..

and Creation followed that Plan accordingly and perfectly.

The God I read about in the New Testament enters physically into History where He had been spiritually since Creation.

The Son of God, Jesus, came to fulfill promises and prophecy, not because of the failure of Man to obey The Law. Jesus was prophetically spoken of all along.

He was not a second thought by The Father.

He was coming to suffer,

He was coming to save,

He was coming to dwell among Men because of His Love for every created Man, not because any initial Plan failed.

The Holy Spirit did not come and move in people because Jesus could not move people to enough action.

Like Jesus, The Holy Spirit was not a second thought of The Father.

The Holy Spirit came to dwell in and empower the Disciples….and eventually you and me….because of one of God’s Laws.

The Law of Impenetrability says two physical objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

It’s physically impossible.

It’s not spiritually impossible.

The Holy Spirit comes to give Gifts….

those Gifts yield fruit…

and God’s initial Plan He gave to Adam is accomplished.

as He exits in us.

Occupying the spiritual space within us.

The indwelling, powerful presence of The Holy Spirit empowers us to steward the Earth, empowers us to be stewards of God’s greatest creation….Man….and reveal Jesus to other people …..because Jesus, as a Man on Earth submitted Himself to His own physical Laws and could not minister to all Men…forever.

The Holy Spirit encourages and empowers us to take God’s Word…..Jesus….to our world today.

The Spirit has done this same thing since He entered that second story room in Jerusalem fifty days after Jesus ascended to Heaven.

When all of God’s Plan for this Age is accomplished….that same Jesus will return, and not submitting to the physical laws He put into place….will be seen of ALL MEN at once and do what He said He would do before He ascended.

God is not human.

God does not have to overcome earlier miscalculations and adjust His Plan.

If you feel God does not hear you….

If you think God created all things and is now absent, and leaves it up to us…

If you personify God and think of Him as you do other Men…..

you are putting human constraints on Him and you are cheating yourself out of seeing Him as He is.

You see God and His Work everyday …

because no limited being and no accident could created The Sun, could creat the order in the universe, within our own bodies and the several systems which allow our very inner and outer existence.

Just look at it all and consider it.

There is an unfathomable Mind behind all of this created universe and our created bodies.

As a two year old …

one does not possess the ability in any way to understand a parents instruction or reasoning or love.

But they can see and experience and benefit from it.

We must understand this….

we will never fully understand God.

We do not possess the ability.

He is beyond our ability to completely know and understand Him, or His reasoning or His Love.

But we can experience it and benefit from It.

He is beyond us.

We should not limit Him in any way.

It is to our detriment to do so.

And even though He is beyond us….

our saving grace is this….

we are not beyond Him.

We are not beyond His Grace.

We are not beyond His Unlimited Love.

When I was 11 years old a group of us were playing as the sun set and darkness began to slowly settle on the day.

Our parents were all gathered in the driveway of one house, talking and socializing.

My group of friends and I were running around and having a great, safe and seemingly unending time, with the parents nearby.

I realized, as the evening took away the day, 

even as I was enjoying it all…..

that I did not want it to end.

Even at 11, I said to myself…

“This is a moment which might not take place again.”

I wanted to stay in that moment.

There are times such as this in everyone’s life.

I have had more times such as this.

In 1996, I attended a football game where the team I was pulling for drove about 90 yards with a minute or so left, scored with a few seconds remaining and beat their biggest rival.

EUPHORIA.

Did not want that moment to disappear.

Not a quiet or magnetic atmosphere…

but one of not wanting to leave the moment.

In 2009, a young minister from Florida conducted a week of meetings at my Church.

After several of those evening services there was almost an afterglow from the sermon and worship music. 

A peace was present.

There was a tangible presence of quiet Joy.

A real sense of not wanting to leave the moment.

It was not manufactured.

But it was real.

Recently, at this same Church, there was a moment like this.

A young lady sang a song near the conclusion of a service….which brought about a Moment that extended the time.

It changed the atmosphere.

You could feel it in your chest….

You could see it with your eyes in the response of the gathered group of people.

It drew everyone toward a Center of Commonality.

As it waned down after an extended time….

no one wanted to leave.

Many people from the gathered group just stayed in their seats..

Many simply stood at the Altar or in their row.

The atmosphere felt in a way, 

magnetic,

It drew you towards itself.

Among everyone, and in the Sanctuary itself….

there was a peace 

and that sense of being drawn in 

to where you did not want to leave that common bond….

you did not want It to end or go away.

In the movie, “Leap of Faith”, there was a tent service where people experienced an extended worship and saw a young boy who was crippled…get up and walk, unencumbered.

It took the group of people into an atmosphere of Joy and then a sense of wanting to prolong the moment. Many stayed and sat around the outside of the tent because what they saw and witnessed inside the tent continued to draw them.

When I was a senior in high school the Church I attended had a series of services that some call a revival.

Toward the end of the very first of those services…

something happened.

One of the leaders stood and spoke.

It was as if time stopped and the group of people there entered into a Presence which drew everyone together…

some were emotional,

some were reverential.

It continued for two and one half hours.

These times are similar in that some events cause us to want extended time.

There is a realization that the moment is special,
I can try to define the moments 

I have experienced these feelings and that Presence of bonding and the quiet magnetic pull toward What made the moment unique.

But I will fail.

Unless you have experienced these moments it is difficult to grasp.

It is similar to intimacy.

After the moments of culminated intimacy…

for many people there is a peace which draws you toward a center which both people experience.

It’s the fulfillment of physical love and we experience it physically and emotionally.

In the moments which occur in a worship service…

there is absolute intimacy…..

of a different type.

It is the experience of being in The Presence of God.

It can be overwhelming.

It can be emotional.

It can be physical.

It IS spiritual.

It is sometimes unexplainable.

But you know it is there and you have been in The Presence of Love, Power, Peace.

Not physical love.

Deeper than that.

Not physical power….

Nor is it peace that’s momentarily quiet.

It’s beneath the skin….

under the muscle of simple power and strength 

and it’s a peace that passes usual comprehension and definition.

However, it is as real as the earth your feet are planted on.

It is difficult to define with dictionary words….

it can maybe be explained in the language of long lasting love which can be communicated by a look.

When we experience the Presence of God….

it stretches the ability to fully define it.

In its fullest sense…….It’s beyond words.
I did my best to explain this.

But I can assure you with conviction….

I know it and have experienced it.

And if you have experienced it… you have an unworded definition as well.

In The Fellowship of The Ring,
Tolkien has the wizard, GANDALPH,
say many unique things.

He says once to Frodo…
“It’s is not ours to decide the time we are in…. it is up to us to decide what to do with the time given us”.

In The Two Towers
GANDALPH says this …
of their adversaries,

“ They have the power of their
Master in them…
and they will stand or fall in him”.

Let that phrase sit in your ear and on your mind a minute.

The Power of their Master.

The Master who walked in Israel and ministered throughout that land, told His followers that,

“All Power has been given unto me”.

He told them in John’s Gospel that whosoever followed Him would be indwelt with and possess that same Power.

He even told them that they could do greater works than He had, because of that indwelling power,
which He bestowed upon them when He breathed upon them and told them to …. “ receive ye The Holy Ghost”.

Jesus followers have His Power in them…

to appropriate and put to full use.

Gandalph’s  words, while not prophetic about our stance today, ring true because of what Christ gave us.

He gave us….through those who walked with and followed Him

HIS  WORDS.

He gave us 

and breathed into those who follow Him…

His Spirit.

That same Spirit brings Jesus’ Words to those who seek Him and brings Jesus’ Power to those He calls and commissions.

Jesus followers have
The Power of their Master in them…
and will stand or fall IN HIM.
The Scripture says ….

“ in Him we live and move
and have our being”.

He spoke His Words to us saying…
“The things I do, ye shall do,
and greater things than these
shalt thou do
because I go to The Father.”

Know this….

Believe this…

Live this…

We have The Power of our Master
in us…
and we shall stand or fall In HIM.

Heard a football coach talking about the upcoming season today.

In a passing comment he said….

“In order to improve, you have to be able to self-assess”.

Difficult to do.

That’s what we leave up to parents, teachers and coaches when we are young. They assess our performance, our efforts and our results.

They make judgements. They consider what it might take for us to maintain or improve. They change or affirm what we are doing.

They assess us.

In that passing comment, the coach gave insight to what it really takes to improve and succeed.

For parents, teachers and coaches can do everything within their power and  ability to influence us.

That outside influence and instruction teaches and can motivate and even bring good results.

However, until we become able to look at ourselves, with truthful honesty and clear introspection…and assess our own selves…and our own abilities and performance….we will not have lasting success.

Athletically, Michael Jordan looked at himself honestly after losing to the Detroit Pistons in the 1990 playoffs. He saw a great player. A league leading scorer. A top level talent.

But he knew that Detroit was going to put him down on the court when he drove toward the basket. He knew they were going to play overly physical with him to tame his ” high wire” game.

He also knew that to take the next step toward a title… he and his team from Chicago would need to get past Detroit.

He looked at himself and saw a physical frame that was too thin. Perfectly athletic and capable of great things… but not capable of enduring the rigors of surviving the physical play.

He inspected himself and saw something lacking.

To improve…he did a self-assessment.

He surmised that strength was needed. A more muscled frame was needed. A frame that would enable him to withstand the push and pull of physical play.

He went to the weight room.

After his assessment of himself he committed to changing his body into what he knew was needed.

Along with the stronger physical frame…and as an after effect of the commitment…came a stronger and tougher mindset. His team followed suit.

That Assessment and the subsequent commitment led to six championships and the label of being the greatest of all-time.
“To improve … you have to be able to self-assess.”

No coach could have created that change or that committnent in Michael.

No coach or trainer or parent or teacher can create the needed change and committnent in you or me…enough to realize a success that can endure.

Outside influence can bring momentary success.

Inner assessment and committment though, can develop the one given to them into a champion that can create a success process which paves the way to a continual and memorable achievement.

I have done this myself.

In the Summer of 1994, I came upon an additional way of doing business, Through a relationship with a great man from Mississippi, I learned a method of business that brought and still to this day brings great business and results.

In late February, 2003  I sought out research to better able me to do what was needed. I was lacking.  That research lifted me to another level of ability to better serve the people I served.

Early in 2010, after hearing what a client wanted, and knowing it was not in my “sweet spot” at that time, I did an assessment, made a decision and formed a partnership with another advisor, who was experienced and efficient in what I was not efficient at. That decision and the subsequent partnership has benefitted many clients, that  fellow advisor ….and myself with business and added ability and insight.

In the late spring and summer of 1971, a very successful football coach decided that in order to continue the success he had realized to a great level…he would have to change.

He self-assessed.

He had won championships. He had great and national acclaim.

But he and his team and his system had grown stale, outdated and suffered through two seasons of mediocrity. There were calls for his dismissal.

In that summer of 1971, Paul Bryant took his coaches away from their campus to learn a new System.

He told them they were going to learn a new offense called the  “wishbone”…and furthermore, they were going to sink or swim with it.

He knew that committed change was necessary and needed.

He was willing to take a great risk, change and execute the effort to excel with a new way…rather than stay safe and fade into the mediocrity his team had faded into.

He won over 100 games in the next ten years, three championships and won more games than any major college coach had, by the time he retired.

After reaching a point of crisis, he assessed himself and his program and took necessary, although risky steps. Greater success followed than had been achieved before.

The same thing has occurred with so many great successful people.

“To improve…. you have to be able to self assess.”

Spiritually. Physically. Maritally. Occupationally.

Do it.

Be courageous and do it continually, before a crisis arises.

It goes against human nature to get introspective when all is well.

Weather changes.

So do situations.

Do the assessment.

Ask the hard, but necessary questions of yourself.

It is worth the risk.

August, 2017

December 20.

35 years ago

What an influential life he led.

For us ….always.

For so many others, only after he
laid hold of the Position God had in store for him.

The years from 1968-1983 were when he truly fulfilled the Plan God had put in front of him when he was about 20 years old.

He ran from it for years….
but then he RAN TO IT
and became a Great Man.

Being the runner he was,
he simply had to change the Race he was running.

He did.

We benefited.

As have scores of other guys
who are now grown men.

Today, I celebrate the day my Father entered Heaven.

I celebrate IT because he lived a full but short life that was elevated because of his commitment and surrender.

He left us with an example large enough to grow
from and into.

He exampled for us a life given over to God.

One which grew great becaue of the Race he chose to run.

He could say to Our Lord at the end of his short life…”Even though I tarried some early on…..I ran the race you put before me to the fullest, with the ability you gifted me.”

He ran three miles to five miles many, many days. He ran three miles in the morning on the day he died.

He ran as a young man.

He then ran again later as a devoted man.

He loved running.

It fulfilled him.

Through running the race set before him, and running it well…..

he fulfilled the purpose set before him and blest many people.

Me and my two brothers first and foremost.

A race well run.

A life well lived.

Alpheus James Bethea, Junior

Daddy

Lighthouses have been in existence since about 300 BC when The Lighthouse of Alexandria was constructed in Egypt. It was the height of a 45 story building.

One of the first Lighthouses in America was built on Little Brewster Island bear Boston, in 1716. It was damaged during the Revolutionary War, rebuilt in 1783….it still stands today.

One of the most attractive Lighthouses in the world is the Lighthouse of Genoa….in Spain. Built in 1543, it still stands today, as do many of these structures.

Lighthouses are constructed on or near coasts to provide guidance and serve as a warning for sea going vessels.

One can tour Lighthouses across our country, there are about a thousand in the US. Michigan has 150 lighthouses as much of the state borders water.

Lighthouses are of various sizes, shapes and colors.

The Lighthouse of Aveiro, in Portugal looks like a barbershop pole.

The Lighthouse on Cape Hatteras, in Nort Carolina is white with a green stripe.

While most lighthouses are tall and narrow, the Burnt Island Lighthouse in Maine looks short and squatty.

It is easy to understand why Lighthouses were built and why so many still stand after centuries.

Built near shorelines they gave light and showed safe passage for ships. Being near the shore they had to be built sturdy to withstand the storms so often present on any coast.

The most important and singular reason a Lighthouse was ever built was and is to provide Light in darkness. 

The Light reveals dangerous formations of rocks which could damage and sink any vessel at sea. 

That same Light shows not merely the danger present but the safety available in the correct passages.

If one looks at most any definition of the purpose for Lighthouses, it is to provide Light.

The Light shows a way.

Not the house.

The house is the structure from which the LIGHT eminates.

That is the purpose of the structure….to eminate the LIGHT placed within it.

Without the illuminated LIGHT, the structure is just an assortment of bricks nicely arranged near a shoreline.

Secondarily, the Lighthouse can supply another service.

If fog is present so heavily the LIGHT cannot be viewed, then traditional LIGHTHOUSES had very loud “fog-horns” to provide warning.

If you finished the second grade then you understand where this is going.

You are a structure

placed in an important location

to provide illumination from a Source placed within you, 

from a LIGHT placed within you.

That Light is not you

You have been filled with that LIGHT and are supposed to allow IT to be revealed 

through the window of your life.

This LIGHT affects lives around you to the positive.

In other circumstances you are to sound an alarm
from a Source within you.

The LIGHT is to be projected out toward those vessels which float into and through your life…

IT is the physical and spiritual reflection of the Power of Christ within you. 

No sound is present.

Just a revelatory Presence.

The warning sound is the projection of your voice from the Presence of Christ always aware and awake to guide and direct.

All these words go to say that ….

YOU are a LIGHTHOUSE.

Allow the LIGHT to be revealed.

Shine it for all to see the danger and the safety present…from the Power within you.

You were built to Shine That LIGHT.

Allow the sounded warnings.

Speak when that Presence moves you to do so.

Be more than a simple structure standing by with no more value than to be glanced at in passing.

Never confine your thankfulness and gratitude to one day or even one season.

Doing so is tantamount to telling your wife you love her, only on Valentines Day.

If you love her you will tell her more than on one day a year.

If you only told her that one day, you are starving her.

An equal balance would be that she would only be intimate with you once a year…..on your birthday.

You would then be sitting in the “starving” chair.
If you were to only think about the gratitude and thankfulness you have toward God or those people in your life….

at or during the Thanksgiving holiday…

you are most likely, not thankful.
Thankfulness is a way of life.

Thankfulness is an attitude of the Heart,

an action of the Will

and a position of the Mind.

There is no sense of entitlement in a thankful heart.

There is no hesitation of the Will to express gratitude.

There is no high minded or ego-driven thought in the Mind of a thankful person.
I would venture to encourage you to list ALL of the things of and for which you are THANKFUL.

It will grow as you consider it.
When we commit wrong,

our conscience,

The Word

and The Presence of Christ

will convict us.
Conviction drives us to a decision.

We will decide to push back against it and refuse its work.

Or, we will decide to accept the conviction and participate in its work to mold us into a different person.
I hope a spirit or attitude of thankulness convicts you to be a person who is full of gratitude, full of remembrance about …..

what your gifts are or have been,

where your gifts came from,

and from whom they were given.
If Thanksgiving convicts you ….you will begin to express gratitude to people.

You will begin to express thanks to people and to God for the things done to and for you.
Begin practicing Thanksgiving.

NOW.

Doing so will create the habit

and then the habit will develop a lifestyle.

The lifestyle will cause numerous effects.
Your words will enrich,

encourage

and lift other people.
And, your heart will feel more full.

“Your car takes on a totally different look when the light shines on it.” 

A good friend made this observation as the bright sunlight reflected off of my car.

The car I drive has a hue which only appears when direct sunlight hits it.

On a cloudy day, the car has one look and when the direct sunlight hits it, another more brilliant color appears.

Color is visible when any light falls upon it. As the light becomes more brilliant, the look of most any color Increases in its brilliance as well.

Light.

It comes from the sun, so far away, bends through the atmosphere and touches the created objects in our world and gives color to our existence.

In the absence of that Light, there exists the absence of color.

The blue of the ocean becomes black.

The blue of the sky goes dark.

The green of trees goes gray and then void.

I own a suit that is a nice shade of blue. When direct light strikes it, the checks and small squares become visible and the designers intent is fully visible.

Our eyes work best with particular degrees of Light. 

In darkness, the pupils dilate, and increase in size for one reason.

That one reason that the pupils expand is in search of Light, any Light. 

Our eyes betray the fact that we are not made to exist in the absence of Light.

Today, physicians recommend proper exposure to sunlight. There is a vitamin….D…. which is called the sunshine vitamin because it supplies in tablet what Sunlight supplies on its own.

It’s healthy.

The comment my friend made about the Light changing the look and color of my car…represents a Truth about our lives and existence.

Darkness breeds many and multiple problems.

It allows us to hide.

Light uncovers us and other things.

Turn the light on outside your house and some night creatures scatter.

Light comes into our lives, not merely from the Sun, but from Its Creator.

This Light changes the hue and appearance of our lives.

This Light changes the inner life we live as well.

This Light brings warmth and comfort with peace.

The physical sunlight brings warmth and comfort…..

the spiritual light gives us direction, Joy, clarity, a guide to our future, and a peace that passes all else.

When that direct Light shines on us…..

It is so brilliant and bright…

It shines in and though us illuminating the perfect purpose we were made for.

And, I believe that a secret to Life is this….

every person knows this Light gives the things I have written…..

some receive this Light gladly, with all of its brilliance, clarity and Truth…and It reveals the Designers perfect Intent.

And some refuse it, and close their eyes to it.

And even as they defiantly close their eyelids in refusal….

the very pupils in those eyes, 

behind those closed lids…..

are expanding, 

increasing in size,

and searching for that always present and needed Light.

In these days of deliveries and packages at the door, daily for many people, it does not matter who delivered it.

What you want is inside the package.

FedEx, UPS, the US MAIL, or whatever entity gets it to you…..it really matters not.

If you even see the person after they leave the package, you may say “Thank you”… you are more concerned about opening the package and getting your order.

It’s a great service…. getting stuff delivered.

But it’s the STUFF.

Not the method or one who delivered it.
Take this same understanding to heart and mind the moment in your life when you understand , your parents, your teachers, your mentors and your pastor….

are not perfect.

Many, many people have heard great teaching, received life-long instruction, gained lasting insight from imperfect coaches, teachers,leaders, parents, presidents, and pastors.

It’s not the messenger that really matters in the long-run…

it’s the MESSAGE.

I have had good and great relationships with coaches, teachers, mentors, pastors…and my parents….

not one of them was or is infallible.

My encouragement…
cut them some slack.

For you, yourself….me, myself….

we are not infallible and most assuredly need some slack.
God, Himself led His Apostle to write these words…”for we have this treasure in EARTHEN VESSELS that the excellency of the power may be of GOD, and not of us.”

His Message through us is what impacts others and the world around us…

not the power of our personalities.

The Power of His Message.

If we can allow that message to be seen in us and through us….we can have great influence.

Most people cannot name all of their elementary school teachers, but they implanted lessons you still know and adhere to.

Our failures and imperfections are going to be involved in the transmission of that Greater Meassage….

but our fallibility will not outlast or overpower the Greater Message.

You have heard, as I have, of people being turned off from Church, or religion because of a ministers’ failing. 

Jim Baker.

Jimmy Swaggert.

There are others.

You can recall their failures.

What would the world see of your failures if you were scrutinized as these men were?

In spite of those failures, realize that hundreds and most likely thousands, came to Christ hearing the Word through these and other guys who made mistakes.

That Message mattered….not the man.

I believe this…. if someone leaves the Church or walks away from spiritual life because of a ministers’ failure…

they had not really heard or heeded or accepted, nor had they come to Christ. 

For if they had heard and received and been changed by THE MESSAGE…they would know that the minister, as we all….

are merely an earthen vessel…made of breakable clay.

It is only THE MESSAGE that is made of an unbreakable cornerstone.