The Bible isn’t a book full of behaviour modifications that cause God to Grace us with salvation.
The Bible is The Book filled with the way we’ll behave once we’re saved and filled with The Spirit.

Are we always going to do those things?
No.
Do we loose our salvation if we don’t?
No.
Do we gain salvation by doing them?
No, for it’s not by works lest any man should boast.
Paul tells us that we don’t do what we want to do and that we do that which we don’t want to do.
James reminds us that Faith without works is dead.
Our Faith results in our salvation and our salvation results in fruits of the Spirit (works).
So the Bible is a book full of behaviours, Fruits of The Spirit that we will produce once we’ve been saved and not works we must produce to gain salvation.

I really don’t get why this confuses people so.
Folks seem to think God gave us His Word (The Bible) to bound us to laws, rules, regulations and commandments.
That God is telling us that we must act a certain way so that He can save us.
It’s much easier than that.
God gives us His Word that we may know who is who.
We recognize Believers by their fruits and we recognize the lost by theirs!
This way I can’t say to you, “I don’t pick my nose in public and I saw you picking your nose the other day - you must not be saved!”
Instead we have to look to the Word and say, “God said picking one’s nose in private is sinful but in public it’s ok!”
That’s righteous judgement, using His Word as the ruler and not our own measure.

Anywho - we’re told that if you know the truth is shall set you free, not that once you’re free you’ll know the truth.
It’s the knowing that causes the freedom.
It’s the salvation that causes the Faith.
It’s the Faith that cause the Fruits/Works.

REJOICE in the LORD!

I’ve had my current Cell Account since 1992 when I moved up to Fort Collins Colorado.
It started out being serviced by Mountail Bell, then US West, then Air Touch and now Verizon Wireless.
Since they took over, the service began to decline.
Not the customer support but the actual cellular service.
It began as an analogue account but as they switched to digital the service dropped through the floor.
The signal became weaker and weaker.
Not the Statewide signal but just the signal here at home.
I lived in the exact same apartment for 13 years.
And now in this new place for the last 6 months.
I called and wrote to Verizon so many times to let them know I can’t get a signal.
They kept telling me to get a home phone.
Then they’d blame the phones I was using.
They even told me to go out and buy (on my own dime) one of those scam plastic sticky things that you stick in the phone under the battery that claims to improve the signal.
It doesn’t.
They’d blame the weather or some temporary tower outage.
They’d try to sell me $800 bag phones.
They’d tell me it was because I lived in some remote area but I live in Denver - 5 miles from downtown.
At one point I wrote to Verizon Headquarters Customer Service asking for help and they wrote back telling me that they’d waive the cancellation fees and wished me good luck with another service!

The service is great when I drive two miles in either direction and hit one of the other towers and the service even rocks all the way through the mountains.
But at home, for the last 13 plus years my service is so bad that I’ve had to change my voice mail letting folks know that odds are I won’t hear the phone ring because it won’t ring when I’m at home.

Then I see ads and guarantees like the ones below and I can’t help but think, “They really don’t give a @#%& about me!”
They lie and say they are constantly checking and correcting their system to cover “dead spots” but I’ve been telling them about one large dead spot for the last decade and more and they just tell me to go to some other carrier.

I truly recommend Verizon to everybody but take advantage of their 14 day trials.
Take that phone everywhere and if you can’t get a signal in an important place, I can tell you from personal experience that you’ll NEVER get that signal there.

Enjoy.

Push the Play Button to Start The Video.

Ammendment 47:

“An amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning participation in a labor organization as a condition of employment, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting an employer from requiring that a person be a member and pay any moneys to a labor organization or to any other third party in lieu of payment to a labor organization and creating a misdemeanor criminal penalty for a person who violates the provisions of the section.”


—> A Better Colorado < ---

—> Union Facts < ---

Here in Colorado we grow our own tomatoes and were in fact cleared by the FDA almost immediately after the scare began.
Yet grocers and restaurants across the state pulled the tomatoes from their menues until just this week.
Why?
Why are these businesses not supporting the local growers and purchasing their produce for sale here in the same state?
In fact, many of the grocers and restaurants who resumed serving tomatoes this week are being supplied by growers in Florida.

Huh?

This is the exact mentality that is causing the great trade imbalances that are driving this country deep into debt.
Rather than support our own economy and populace we purchase staples from overseas.
Rather than say to Mexico or China, “If you only purchase $X billions of dollars worth of our exports, we’ll return the favour to the penny,” we are exporting the majority of our products and importing that which we consume.

Why didn’t the local stores and restaurants purchase their tomatoes from local growers and sell to local patrons?
I guess we’re just not locally minded.

In a perversion of marriage, homosexuals married in numbers that nearly overwhelmed County Clerks in California.
On May 15th, the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on homosexual marriage put in place by Californians.
California State public health officals handed out ammended marriage licenses that read “Party A” and “Party B” rather than Bride and Groom.
Starting today (June 17th) officals were told to start issuing these revised licenses to homosexual couples.
Californians have responded with a new ballot measure that would reflect a similar measure adopted by 26 other States which bans homosexual marriage by reading “provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
Californians will vote on the measure in November.
In order for the measure to qualify being on the November ballot, it needed nearly 700,000 signatures (3% verified) but the measure’s supporters collected more than 1.1 million signatures.
“This signifies the fact that California voters really do favor and will come out to vote for the protection of historic marriage,” said Ron Prentice, executive director of ProtectMarriage.com, a coalition of religious and social conservative groups behind the initiative.

Contact your representatives and tell them that as Americans we support this measure, not only in California but in EVERY State and at the Federal level as well.

Call The Capitol Switchboard:
202-224-3121

Find & Contact Your Senators:
www.senate.gov

Find & Contact Your Congressmen:
www.house.gov

I mean, is it really worth it?
Thank God y’all haven’t given up pairing up as I have or this world would end within the next generation.

But I mean, really, was it worth it?

So I’m at one of my gigs, a Wedding this weekend.
As usual a pretty Bride’smaid has found her way behind my table all night, chatting about this and that.
It’s really easy for a guy like me to be attractive to pretty ladies at gigs because they’re usually packed full of “the moment”.
Take good music, good friends, sprinkle some low lighting and alcohol and add a side of no date and you have “The Moment”.
LOL
Anywho so this gal wants to chat me up and it’s a VERY long gig so we have all day/night.
She’s very pretty, only 27, got the whole celtic look and accent going for her.
As we talk and she drinks and the night progresses she drills me more and more about my decision to stop dating.
It’s easy to change the subject, I’m working after all and she has duties to the Bride as well so there are long breaks in the conversation.
But as the night gets longer she gets her hands on my cell and calls herself.
“There, I’ll have my new Yank boyfriend on speed dial…”
Yeah great, she’s only in town the rest of the weekend then back off to the UK by Monday.

So where am I going with this other than to brag that the jolly old fat man can still fish with the best of you?

If I were to ever come out of “retirement” - Mom, if you’re reading this, please don’t go getting your hopes up, I’m not even considering it! - I’d always assumed I’d have a Christian bride.
A friend to the end who walks with me and walks with me with Jesus.
Somebody who holds the same values, the same beliefs, the same culture, interests and area code!
So why am I always attracted to these beautiful women who are the complete opposite of me?

Blah - I’m so not interested in expending the mental and emotional energy into the social and physical aspect of dating.
It’s so draining and I barely have enough for work these days.
But Lord God why am I continually attracted to these women?

It really isn’t easy, is it?

Ok, my ranting is over but I have one final note:
My phone rang this morning, it’s currently 3am.
But it is 10am in the UK.
She waited until she was on her way to work to “give me a jingle” and let me know she made it home all right.
Two hours later, I’m more confused and hense my post.

Enjoy!