destiny

Time Like the Tide

/ The WheatandTares

Time is like the tide.

It never stops.

It’s always moving forward.

It waits for no man.

It pauses for no woman.

It can bring peace or chaos, but you can choose.

You can plan and prepare, or you can simply let it roll on in.

But it will not be stopped.

It can catch you unaware, or you can come ready.

The choice is yours.

What will you do?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 4:13-17

Hello, 2023!

/ The WheatandTares

The new year is here, whatcha gonna do with it?

You can’t go backwards.

You can’t jump forward.

You have this moment to ignore or to embrace.

It’s all up to you. You’re not a victim or casualty.

You can choose, but you have to choose now.

Time is ticking. Minutes are flying. Seconds zoom by right now as you speak.

So, make your choice, and choose it well.

For tomorrow is a new day, and today will be gone forever.

Never to return.

And soon enough, you’ll be saying goodbye to 2023 and Hello, 2024!

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17

What Will You Do With It?

/ The WheatandTares

This year you have been given is important.

The minutes are like a precious gem.

It’s rare and of much value, never to be seen again.

What will you do with it?

What will you make amends?

The clock will keep on ticking.

Time will never end.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

New Year’s is Coming!

/ The WheatandTares

Can you believe 2023 is almost upon us?

The new year is nipping at our heels.

Looking back, I search for the value of what I have done.

Is it worthy? Is it useful? Is it enough?

Every season at this time, I question my intentions.

I begin analyzing and questioning.

Were my plans well executed or were they wasted?

Were the goals fulfilled and throughly accomplished?

The questions begin to flow like a river until I almost feel overwhelmed with the gravity of the search.

But then, I remember. Then, I recollect.

It’s not a competition. It’s not a race to defeat.

Tomorrow is a new day, and today is still here for the catch.

Make the best of this moment, and make a point to create the rest even better.

It’s not about perfection. It’s not about the ideal.

It’s about integrity, sincerity and virtue.

It’s about determination, perseverance and fortitude.

Let’s make the most of right now and work towards a great time to come.

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

Everyone Has a Prison

/ The WheatandTares

No matter who you are, where you came from, where you’re going,

We all have a prison to live in.

It may be your career, your education, your ambition that demands your concentration, your dedication.

It may be your possessions, your economic status, your greed for more that commands your toil, your allegiance.

There is a prison, and it beckons your name.

It may be your pain, your heartache, your past that haunts your thoughts, your recollections.

It may be your anger, your temper, your impulse that forces your allegiance, your agreement.

There is a prison, and the door is open wide.

It may be your children, your spouse, your family that claims your devotion, your approval.

It may be your health, your well-being, your countenance that orders your commitment, your adherence.

It may even be a wall of bars you’ve allowed someone else to control the size, the depth, the yielding of your attendance that confines your submission and your surrender.

We all have a prison waiting, which one will you choose?

You can also decide love, joy, peace, and goodness will be your eternal home.

This prison will bring more freedom than you can ever imagine.

Then, you’ll want to lock the door and throw away the key.

Choose well. For once the latch is turned, you may never leave your abiding cage…

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Galatians 6:7

Walk On

/ The WheatandTares

Sometimes, you’ve just to walk.

When you’re in the middle of those toxins that are choking you, walk.

When you find yourself surrounded by the dunes of hostility and anger, walk.

When all you can see is the fiery darts of bitterness and hatred, walk.

Sometimes, it’s just better to remove yourself than to expect the other to change.

When you realize you’ve landed in the center of their pain, and they refuse to care, walk.

When you recognize you’re not helping, and those receiving refuse to give, walk.

When all you hear is the negative, the criticism, the accusations, walk.

You don’t have to stay to prove you’re right.

You don’t have to remain in the mud to express your love.

You don’t have to maintain the relationship when the abuse and jealousy are the weights.

This is not your punishment nor reward.

This is not your purpose or calling.

This is not your destiny.

Walk on, my friend.

Walk on.

But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 12:48-50

Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate; For the Lord will plead their cause, And plunder the soul of those who plunder them. Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.

Proverbs 22:22-25

Eternity Echoes

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments
I do not own or possess this pic.
Google search.

What we do matters.

What we say is important.

Who we impact echoes into eternity.

Too many today attempt to play the nonchalant card.

They try to act as if they can do what they want, you can do what you want, and no one pays any rewards or consequences.

It’s just living life.

But oh. How wrong we can be.

If I always do me, and you always do me, all we create is two spheres full of selfishness and self centeredness.

If I’m focused only on me, and you only on you, we become consumed on our own desires, our own requests, our own demands.

And eventually, no one else matters.

Yet, it’s supposed to matter because after all, my expectations are highest priority to me.

And your expectations are highest priority to high, and then, we’re both at an impasse.

Because if it’s all about me, and it’s all absolutely you, then, you don’t matter to me, and I don’t matter to you!

What wretched and lost souls we become, and what wrecked havoc we leave for those behind us.

All kindness, and love and harmony is expected for me (and for you), but it sucks the life out of all those who are impacted because they are seeking the same.

And what about the children racing toward the edge of a knife?

What about those innocent souls who cry out to be loved, nurtured and directed?

Our self consumption depleted their hope for tomorrow because all they can see is our command for the now.

What we do in life does echo in eternity.

It is a repeating anthem across the chasms of time.

What will your reverberations be?

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Proverbs 13:22

So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.

2 kings 17:41

Get Busy Livin’ or Get Busy Dyin’

/ The WheatandTares

Robert Herrick wrote a poem that had this verse,

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

And in the movie, Dead Poets Society , Robin Williams implores the students to live life to the fullest, to reach beyond the complacent living that is so tempting and make their lives extraordinary.

I wonder how often we actually wake up and purposefully make our lives extraordinary.

Seriously, this about your day today.

How did you wake up?

What did you do in the first 30 minutes?

What did you do in the last 30 minutes?

What about all of those tiny seconds in between?

Do we work hard to live our lives to make an impact,

Or do we simply impact our lives hard to live for work?

Each one of us have the opportunity to rise above the norm, to stretch beyond the comfort, to strive above to greater heights.

It is up to each of us to choose what influence we will have,

And it is up to us whether we choose to live for dyin’ or die trying to live.

Which will you choose?

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even avapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

James 4:14

Callings Will Change You

/ The WheatandTares
I do not own this picture. Art by: Klein

I read something recently that began, “Your calling is going to crush you.”

If I weren’t a Christian, and I’d never heard of a calling, or that statement might intimidate me.

If I weren’t called, that quote might make me wrinkle my forehead and wonder why someone would be liking to be crushed by something they chose.

But that’s where information and revelation alter your perspective.

See, when you have no revelation, you might not understand why I do the things I do.

When you have no revelation, you might not grasp the importance of my choices, if my sacrifices, of my disciplines.

Oh, but when you have a revelation, your eyes are open, your heart is refreshed, your soul longs for one more moment, one more taste of that living water you’ve found.

And you’ll do anything to maintain it.

You’ll do anything to keep it.

You’ll do anything to remain in it.

You’ll lay down desires, and expectations, demands and wishes.

Just for another moment.

It’s like finding a new love, but it’s so much more.

It’s like recognizing a new craving, but it’s beyond that.

It’s like getting a glimpse of paradise, but it’s to a greater extent.

If you’ve never experienced the moment, it will be difficult to explain it.

For it’s not a simple piece of knowledge that can be spoken or read about.

You have to fast it.

You have to feel it.

You have to experience the revelation.

Then, you’ll never be the same.

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 4.10

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.

Psalm 42:1

Faith Based or Religion?

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Drafted this on August 17, 2019 after reading several articles of pastors and Christian leaders who had decided to “leave the faith.” This may be old news, per se, but the truth remains the same…

After reading a few articles over the past few weeks, I would like to scream this question to the world… or maybe just make a big billboard for every pastor, lay leader, worship leader, church member and just any person who calls themselves a “Christian!”

What or Who is your faith based upon?

There have been two major articles presented over the past two weeks and countless counter-articles about two Christian leaders who have “fallen from their faith” and have decided the world needs to know it.

Let me give a disclaimer as I begin this post… I understand each of these authors’ claims of feeling doubt, confusion, temptation, anger and loss. I understand their struggle to understand, their struggle to succeed, and their struggle to appease and receive admiration and approval from those around them. So, please, do not read the rest of my post with the perception that I am being cold, calloused or apathetic. I promise you, I am not.

Yet, each time I read these articles, I become amazed, angry, in anguish and eventually, driven to my knees. I am amazed that their “faith” brought them to these conclusions, and I am convinced that each of these men may never have had true faith to begin with, or they have chosen deliberately to walk away from the revelation of their first love.

Please understand, this is not a statement of judgment, but rather, a statement of truth.

If your “faith,” or Christianity, is based in the approval of men and not in the love of Jesus Christ, it really is no faith at all.

If your faith is based in the success that relies on the formulaic affirmation of your pastor, your department leaders or your members, rather than the instruction, wisdom and obedience to the only audience that should be made the main focus (Jesus), than your success has been built on a religion and a group of people whom should never have had rights to that foundation.

This is why I feel so angered by these articles, not necessarily by the faltering of their faith, but more because they have painted a picture of what faith truly is not!

Faith in Christ is a relationship, or at least it should be. It is not all of these things of which each of these men spoke.

It is should never be founded in people, a church, a method, a tradition or an expectation of a performance.

And EVERY time it is, a person will lose his or her faith! Not one time in either of their articles, statements or tweets did they say, “Jesus failed me. Jesus is an awful Lord. Jesus can’t save me, and that’s why I’m falling.” And I believe it’s because they know that wouldn’t be true!

Each of them have forgotten why they got in this thing to begin with, or at least have forgotten For Whom they began. And honestly, I’d like to ask if they actually ever fell in love with Him and the Word He gave us.

Our Christian faith doesn’t come from some man, Some organization, or even from the people who attend that organization, namely the church. If our faith is any faith at all, it comes from the inner struggle of flesh vs. spirit, and our feeding that spirit more. It comes from our seeking scripture, and following up he instructions it gives.

And now, these men have made public statements for all to hear, and many who may be listening will believe because they have similar struggles and feelings and are in a state of confusion, that their faith is nonexistent as well.

 There are so many hurting people in this world and so many people who need direction, encouragement, and just simple discipleship in their faith, and scenarios like these only add to the confusion and miss guidance they already have.

THIS is why I feel so anguished when I read articles like these.

When leaders are deceived and either fall into “blatant sin,” as we watched happen to so many television evangelists in the 90s, or simply “fall away from their faith,” as we are seeing in this current age, it creates a domino effect for those following and/or whose lives simply intersect at that moment in time.

It is disheartening and almost discouraging to watch as, one by one, more struggling Christians choose to follow these falterings either out of agreement to the confusion or out of surrender to, what appears to be, a release of inner tension to keep on the narrow path they have constructed.

I suppose this is what Christ told us would happen.

I suppose, I really should never be surprised, but my heart is still broken every time I read of a great leader falling from their faith, because a leader is someone who has followers, and those followers always suffer in the fallout.

Those followers may even have more followers who suffer, and what about their own families, especially the children who are all impacted?

It is just heartbreaking and, honestly, can become overwhelming, if we do not focus on Him and remember He is still in control!

He is still on His throne, and He still desires us to deepen our relationship with Him, carry on the purpose He has given us, and fill in the gaps where these leaders may leave a void.

This must remain as our ultimate goal, regardless of which leaders fall into temptation and deception.

Instead of staying in my moments of amazement (shock), anger or anguish, I must be driven to my knees in prayer.

We must all be. We must pray for these who have fallen and who are deceived.

Pray for their realization of the blinders they have chosen to put on, because without this revelation, they will never come back to repentance.

Pray for their removal from those who will stumble and fall behind them.

Pray that these followers will receive new leaders who can guide and help them through this storm.

Pray for the indirect impact on those who are already struggling with a faith that is made to cause us to have wonder, amazement and unanswered questions, because of the Author of this faith is Someone of such Deity that He is altogether wonderful and incomprehensible!

Pray for the children of these men and women, of those impacted, and for those indirectly hit and even those who don’t yet believe. Pray that these children find love that is undeniable, grace that is indescribable and an unfailing hope for tomorrow that can only be found in Jesus Christ!

My apologies for the long blog today, but sometimes, things need to be said, and I do hope it might help someone…

Here are just a few Scriptures I have found that might help us along this journey of leadership and faith…

2 Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage —with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

Acts 20:28, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

Proverbs 4:23, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it springs all life.”

Matthew 18:6, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

James 3:1, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

Luke 12:48b, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

1 Timothy 2:1-4, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.“