The Lucky Loser

Moving Day

2009-11-08T02:03:00.000-08:00

Time to close up shop here and move to an easier location.

Besides, you know you're off to a bad start when there's an unfix-able spelling error in your URL!

(ARGH!)

See you there !

The Prodigal God and the Older Brother

2009-11-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

You may have heard of the big best seller by Pastor Tim Keller called "Prodigal God" It's based on the beloved well known parable by Jesus usually called "The Prodigal Son." Pastor Keller explains the parable is really all about The extravagant Father who like God is constantly pouring His love on His children.

Lately I've been thinking allot about the older son with the attitude. We often overlook him because we all relate to the younger son who's the big screw up. Who hasn't messed up one time or another?

Sometimes though I can really relate to the older brother.

"Here I am stuck at church! Always the last one to leave. (NOT true, it just seems that way)

When are they going to appreciate what I do?!

Whine whine mutter mutter mutter!"

But thanks to our prodigal extravagant God a wrong attitude is easy to overcome! Notice in the parable The Father goes out to the older brother like he did for the younger. Even though his son is having a one man pity party, The Father knows just what to say to comfort his oldest son.

"You have always been with me and everything I have is yours!"

That's an awesome truth to consider when you realize who The Father is in the parable. And it helps me continue to do the right things and keep the right attitude.

Now if I could just figure out how to not let my right hand know what the left is doing without getting confused. :-)

UPDATE! New Job

2009-11-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

Image by krisdecurtis via Flickr

Hey people!

Always always always!

Whenever possible give a two week notice when getting a new job!

Because you never know when you might need that old job again.

(Sigh)

But hey! Thank God for old jobs! :-)

Prayer Alert

2009-10-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

To all praying Christians out there.

I maintained my Christian witness today even though it was worse than a punch in the face.

After eight years of faithful service I was suddenly terminated from my job for poor job performance. Last year after decreasing my hours and adding to my work load they gave me a thirty day warning to improve my performance, or else.

When that time was complete I requested a formal review. When none came I had to assume everything was OK. Then with no warning out of the blue they fired me.

Nevertheless my boss said I could use them as a reference.

When God closes one door he opens another.

Insurgency!

2009-10-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

It's an insurgency!

It's all about God's love. We all know
God is real. We're witnesses.

One tells another, who tells a friend, who tells a family member, and so on and so on.

And now it's time to take it to the next level in our church. We've
all written down the names of all the people we've witnessed to.

They're our friends, our family members and coworkers and students.

Everyone taking the names with them to a special all church prayer
meeting tonight. That's both the main fellowship and our satellite
church as well.

It's like we're turning a corner as a church. The usual cliches like
"revival" somehow don't seem to fit. Who knows what's going to happen,
but going to be great!

Bit by bit, person to person lives are going to be changed.

It's an insurgency!

Overcoming Besetting Setbacks

2009-10-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Sinus infection headaches are so the pits. It's not just the debilitating pain and feeling like my head is stuffed with cotton. It's the way the medication drags down my emotions.

The best thing anyone can do in that condition is not to take any of their thoughts seriously. Because everything is just going to be a sucked down the drain of depressed emotions. And if your emotions are already down from a disappointment, depressing medications are just going to make it even worse.

Take it from me, from the book of "been there, done that" it's a chain reaction you don't want any part of. Just let depressing thoughts fly in one ear and right out the other.

Because depression is the pits!

Theme Song

2009-09-27T05:26:00.000-07:00

Every blog should have a theme song.

Mine is "Love Comes Down" by "Rez Band."

"Because when you lose, you win . . "

I'm a Witness

2009-09-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Recently our pastor at Grace Fellowship reminded us that
God didn't call us to be His Lawyer. He called us to be witnesses.
Too many people try to argue everyone into The Kingdom usually
with bad results.

Of course some are really good at being God's lawyer. In fact they've built
an entire ministry around that idea. But even those people admit every one's
not the same as they are so they're going to be used by God in another way.

So I guess the bottom line is, be a witness. No one has to argue about that.
It's like this.

"Hey! I know God is the real deal. This is what The Lord did for me."

People can argue all they want. But they can't deny your story. You know it's true. And deep down no matter what they say they know, YOU know your story is true.

So what's my story?

God is not only the God of the second chance. He's the God of the third, forth and Nth chance. I know it's true. I'm a witness.

My life was a box full of broken pieces. It was a series of false starts and missed opportunities. Some things looked like I got them right and then I'd blow it again. To try and put it all together again right seemed impossible. And it was. For me that is, but not for God.

It was a little over a year ago I decided that I was going to commit to going to a local church. I was really going for it this time, broken pieces, issues, hang ups and all. If something came up, or if I messed up I was going to keep going forward. If people think I've got "freak" issues, so be it.

Besides it wasn't about me. There was my family to consider. And of course there's the fact that no one's getting any younger and what time is left over seems to be accelerating to warp speed!

Thankfully there were no freak issues. (Not yet anyway) And the family is coming along and becoming a part as well.

The tipping point for me was easy to mark. It was when I knew this really wasn't yet another false start. That was the day Grace Fellowship announced the launch date of their satellite church.

We were equal distance from both so for us it was a toss up. But as many of you already know when The Holy Spirit decides something for you, YOU KNOW IT!

All the broken pieces slowly started coming together in a way I couldn't have dreamed. It's not that I've arrived. (NO WAY)

This is the starting line.

LarryK12309
Grace North
Halfmoon NY

Keeping up with the Duggars and people like Them

2009-08-19T03:32:00.000-07:00

I'm reading the book by The Duggar family. They have a reality show by the same name, "18 kids and counting."

My first reaction to their show was to imagine wives all over the country turning to their husbands and saying,

"Don't even think about it cowboy! You did not marry a baby factory!"

Then I tried to picture how a liberal might feel about the show. I'm guessing they hate it. It's not so much that Michelle has over 15 children, that makes them upset. It's that all her children have the same father! Not only that, but when Michelle first got pregnant she was already married to her husband Jim Bob.

How unbelievable is that!

But seriously folks even though my wife and I have the same core beliefs as The Duggars we wound up with opposite results. They have over fifteen children of their own, we have two, both adopted. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Once we realized the route we were supposed to take The Lord blessed us every step of the way. When a decision had to be made when a need had to be met, He was there with the answer.

The real shock came after both adoptions were finalized. All at once both countries we adopted from totally changed their adoption requirements. Had we waited any longer it would have impossible to adopt the way we did.

You see, keeping up with the Duggars isn't like keeping up with the Jones-es, or any other family for that matter. It's all about keeping up with The Lord. Follow Him, and that's where you'll find true fulfillment.

And even though we have a much smaller family, we're still getting allot out of their book anyway. ;-)

Our Blessed Vacation

2009-08-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

To call our latest vacation, "Blessed" is not to try and sound spiritual. It's because we really were blessed down at the Jersey shore.

First of all it really is possible to keep a covenant with your eyes even on a public beach. Granted the watchman may have to work overtime but it can be done.

Second there's God's protection. As any of you know who've ventured out into the ocean know,
even on calm days, the waves can be a bit rough. My daughter Katie and I were wading in shallow water when we got knocked off our feet by a surprise wave. That's when I felt Katie's teeth hit my elbow.

"Oh dear!"

Praise God she wasn't hurt at all. Just a tad shaken up. Granted there are first aid stations close by and I know she would have made a quick recovery, but I would have needed oxygen.

Finally there's the arcades. No trip to the Jersey shore is complete until you hit all the arcades on the Boardwalk. It's all about collecting those tickets and coupons for prizes. (Yes they're really cheesy prizes but it's the thrill of winning that matters!)

Right when my wife and I had just about had it with our two cranky kids, some nice people came by and just handed us all their arcade tickets!

"Sweet!"

This really was a blessed vacation!

My 35th Year

2009-07-27T03:38:00.000-07:00

When I turned 35 in the natural I freaked! There were so many things I hadn't done yet. It was a real wake up call. Thank God 17 years later things are much better.

But what about when someone has been born again for 35 years. What are the expectations?

A quick scan of the bible shows that God's timetable is different for everyone. Sure the disciples were ready in three years for ministry, but how old were they when God called each of them? And what about the abnormally born Saul of Tarsus? Surely he was on a different schedule.

And what about the heroes of the old testament. How long before God used Moses, Joshua, Noah and old father Abraham.

How do we know if we're on schedule with God? Are you satisfied with where you are? Do a see a plan? Do you have a vision for your life?

Thank God. Thank God! Again I say THANK GOD!

Never have I been so sure that I'm on track with God. This does not mean that
I've arrived.

No way!

It only means I just found my starting line!

Filter Your Brain

2009-07-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

There are people out there who claim to love God so much
they never have to worry about going to an evil website.
(Smut,hate, or otherwise)

With all due respect that's like saying you're so careful you
never need a fire extinguisher or a first aid kit.

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm glad we have an internet filter.
We like Total Net Guard. It works for us.

Too bad we couldn't get a filter for our brains.

My Birthday

2009-06-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's time to take time out from promoting my humble little
blog to commemorate my birthday. Not the birth of my
spirit/soul container (10\05\56) I'm talking about the
day I was born again. (Aka "Born from above)

On June 25 1974 I received Christ as my Savior
and Lord along with a bunch of other kids at
the big Campus Life end of the school year
retreat down in Ocean City NJ.

Ever since then I've hated sin and have chased
after The Holy Spirit where ever He leads.

Granted it hasn't been a straight path as there
have been a few U-turns and golden calves
to be ground up along the way but
somehow or other God keeps working it to the
good.

Praise His Holy Name Forever!

Introduction

2009-06-20T05:25:00.000-07:00

Larry the Lucky Loser

In the end we're all losers. If you're lucky you don't have allot of stuff
to fret over, because when we die, none of it is going to really matter anyway.

Introduction

If you have any kind of Christian background you've heard of The Beatitudes.
This is where The Teacher espouses all these virtues that are contrary to
what the world believes. Things like being in a state of mourning or
knowing that you're really broke. As opposed to always striving to be
rich with all your desires fulfilled.

To that end I'd like to add "Blessed are the losers for in the end
they'll meet the one who's already won."

God doesn't like poor people more than than the rich. It's just that
poor people tend to give Him more cooperation.

In the same way, it's never good when tragedy strikes. But it's
in those times we see how fragile life is as we gather around and
get closer to God and to our loved ones.

And God doesn't want us to fail all the time. Yet when we do fail
that's when we can really learn what to do next.

"Blessed are the losers for in the end
they'll meet the one who's already won."