One Nice Picture!

Just a few friends having a blast at the beach.

(Oh, actually it’s a few friends and a twitter-pated couple!)

Good times, tough times...

It has been a very unusually grim time around Truth Baptist Church and the Heritage Boys Academy. It has had its highlights as well though. Alot has happened, so I'll do this in chronological order.

On Wednesday, the 21st of October, our dear friends from the Netherlands, the Huussens, arrived in Panama City. They will be here until the first week of December, and will be back again sometime after the first of next year to get ready for the Russell and Hannah's wedding. I don't know the details of it all yet, but nonetheless, it has already been alot of fun since they've been here. I have enjoyed every spare minute I can "escape" over to their trailer. :D That was one of the highlights.

Then on Monday, the 26 of October, our campmeeting started. We had Pastor Charlie Andrews, Pastor Mike Keenan, Bro. Terrence Calvin, Bro. Terry Kendrick, Bro. Jake Huussen, and Bro. Daniel Waters preach during the week. There were some other assorted preachers during the week, including myself, and I had such a great time preaching! The Lord gave much liberty and I can't remember having such a good time preaching. The whole week was truly a blessing to our church. The quality of the preaching was excellent, and the Lord met with us in a great way.

Then some tough times came. On Sunday, the 2nd of November, Silas Blackburn, who has been fighting cancer for close to 6 six months, went on to be with the Lord. He went after fighting a battle most men couldn't take. The Lord's grace has been, and will continue to be sufficient. We are all grateful for the comfort that Silas' battles are now over, and we will see him again, and soon.

Since then, I have spent the last 9 days with some disease I can't seem to shake. It has included severe headaches, fevers, head and chest congestion, coughing, etc. It has in a large way interrupted school more than anything. It is the first time I've been sick this year. It has really caught me off guard, because I typically stay pretty healthy. Anyway, pray that I can shake this thing before Monday, cause I can't miss any more school or I'll really be in trouble.

I have really enjoyed some things I've learned from God recently as I've tried to grow closer to him. He has been especially close and real through the tumultous times, and I cherish the things I am learning and have learned.

The Lord is good.

What is Important?

What is important to you?

Family? The right to be raised and raise your family as you see fit, stay healthy as you see fit, and love and serve God as you think is best is seen by most Americans as a right, and one that they would die for, at that! 

Friends? Your brothers and sisters in Christ and the comraderie you share is crucial to your spiritual encouragement and help, and I know that this is important to the majority of my readers.

Freedom? The ability to choose to serve God, own a gun, homeschool your kids, and preach against everything the Bible does are all freedoms that I would give my life for tomorrow. And so would most of my readers, I would presume.

But what we would truly give our life for tomorrow is what we give our lives for today. A lot of what goes on in American patriotism and politics today is nothing but talk!

People say they love America. Yet when it comes right down to it, they do nothing to effect the change they say they want to happen.

I have a hard time with the “I Love America” claims when people vote, not for the best man, but rather for the man who has the best chance of beating who they hate the most. (You want change, you say?)

I have a hard time with the “I Love America” claims when we send back to congress the same men who created this mess, and even elect them to the office of the President of the United States. (Where’s the Maverick now, when we need him most?)

I have a hard time with the “I Love America” claims when I can’t even get people to read a political blog that discusses the very issues they say are important to them.

I have a hard time with the “I Love America” claims when the courts, the lawyers, and the politicians are passing law after law trampling your freedoms and labeling you in a way King George III could have never dreamed of before the War for Independence. And you do nothing.

I have a hard time with the “I Love America” claims when some people have already quit reading this article because they don’t want to get involved with “all that political stuff.”

I have a hard time with the “I Love America” claims when you watch America go to Hell on a regular basis, and you can’t even get off the televisions, the video-games, the computers, and the beds to go on visitation, street preach, and be a witness for Christ. When you refuse to be different on purpose in situations where you can make a difference for God…

My point is this: I don’t believe a lot of people love America the way they say they do. When I get riled up about these issues, and I watch others yawn, I wonder just how possible revival is in this country. I wonder just how possible a real change for God is possible with these lazy Christians who “say” they love America.

You love yourself and your comfort. That’s what you love; because that’s what you act on.

But mark my words—you will answer to God for wasting the greatest opportunity of freedom a people has ever had in world history. You’ll answer to God for the immeasurable amount of patriot blood that has been spilt for what we squander today. And to top it off, we’ll have to apologize to some great men that gave their families, their fortunes, their reputations, and their lives so people like us can write what we think on a blog without government censorship.

If you want, you can plop down into your E-Z chair with a magazine and a cup of tea with your claims of “Oh, it’s just prophecy being fulfilled. Even so, come Lord Jesus.” But your complacency will be answered for one day. That’s a fact.