When I was in my teenage years (many years ago!) I did not like, nor, did I want to learn or had little interest in, English as a subject. I could not find a good reason that I would use it, so I gave very little of time, energy or resources to it.

When I began to write this blog, I was unsure and very reluctant to post something for everyone to read because I knew this was not my strength.  I felt I would be standing with my participles out of place, like having a bad hair day or my irregular verbs would be very visible for all to see, like something hanging out of my nose that I am unaware of but everyone else can see plainly. (If you have ever had that happen it is not been a good day)

As I prayed and began to move forward to write what God would lead me to pen, I have been overwhelmed at the response of the encouragement and blessings many have sent. I was totally unprepared for how God would use the words He has led me to share.

In the fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, we are told that James and John were mending their fishing nets when Jesus called them to follow Him. John eventually wrote the gospel of John and four other books in the New Testament. If we take time to think about this for a moment, it is very remarkable that a man, who fished for a living, became a writer who has encouraged, blessed and motivated millions of people to turn to Jesus Christ in faith.

Although the bible declares the words of those who wrote God's word, were moved by the Holy Spirit to inscribe what God wanted said through them. It still amazes me that God would use a fisherman to write, unlike the Apostle Paul who was educated and well schooled in the culture, languages and religion of the Jews and Romans. Yet, John who was a simple fisherman and not well educated, was also used in God’s hands, by writing His word.

From the comments you have sent, I have seen that God is using me to touch lives and hearts, but I assumed God would rise up a man like Paul to write a blog that could bless or minister to people, but what I have found is God is willing to use an unskilled writer like me, because I was willing to respond to do what He was leading me to do.

If you have a personal relationship with Jesus through faith, I want to encourage you, don’t let your opinions, doubts or fears, hinder you from allowing God to use you, even in the areas of your life you might have thought you had no ability in. I can’t take credit for what He is doing because I know I do not have a natural aptitude in writing. Yet, as a follower of Jesus, I want Him to have the glory for what He is willing to do through my life; I hope you have the same heart and desire as well.

If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I would like to encourage you to read the books of a fisherman who God used in a powerful way, please take the time to read the gospel of John and the epistles of 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and the book of Revelation. I don’t know how good of a fisherman he was, but I know the words of John changed my life.

As a footnote, I have a number of family members who have read my blog, all of them have at least bachelors’ degree or masters’ degree. I thought about letting them proof read my blog’s before I posted them but instead, I hope you will find the spirit of what I write, and not the comma that might be misplaced.

 May God bless your day and I hope to hear what the Lord is doing in your life!

In the gospel of John we find a very well known and familiar account of a conversation between Jesus and Peter.

What Jesus said to Peter, is what grabs my attention and interest.

John 21:15 Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

Welcome back to my second blog,

As I took the time to view my first blog which I had set up, my first question was simple, "Who are the people in the picture on the blog?"

My answer is very easy to answer, I have no idea, it came with the template I set up.  What do you expect for a blog which was free with our website purchase? However, for a reasonable fee, I could upgrade and get different pictures. Who knows what I could find for a reasonable cost? Maybe I could find a better looking or more intelligent looking people. (Not to be condescending for the freebies that came with my purchase, I am sure their mothers think they are cute) However, in their defense, they are younger, and most would say, better looking than I am. (My wife might make an argument against that point, but she would be the only one I know of.)

As I thought about this, it came to me, what difference does it make whose picture is on my site, the people on the site are not much different than anyone else. After all people are people, we are not that much different than those on my blog, except their color, age, culture or intelligence my be different, but we are are all, in fact,  just people.

I was watch a TV documentary on the "Harlem Globetrotters" the other night, I found it fascinating to realize when they traveled in the 1940's and 1950's, many of the cities they traveled to, would not allow them  to sleep in certain hotels or motels because they were black. In one Southern State, they had to sleep in the county jail because no motels would allow them to stay at their facilities!

If that was not insulting enough, during this same time, a chimpanzee that had become famous for making TV appearances on various variety shows, was able to stay in a certain hotel but the Globetrotters could not.

Although mankind has the tendency to look down upon other cultures, colors or ages of people.  God does not, He sees everyone equally, He has no favorites because He is impartial to people based upon who they are or where they have come from.

Although mankind has their own reasons & excuses for why they look down upon others, God calls it sin. If we are honest, we can see the affects of sin in regard to how we view others in our world today.

Murder, hate, divorce, theft, wars, which is only a short list of what could be documented.

Yet, God has a great love for mankind, even though many fail to understand or accept His love for them.

Jesus came to save us from the sin we find ourselves under, He lived the perfect, holy and righteous life which we could never live, but Jesus died to take our place, for the sins we continually commit. He alone can reconcile our sins before a righteous and holy God.

2 Corinthians 5:^21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus is willing to take your sins away, if you are willing to accept His righteousness as a gift by faith.

Jesus loved you enough, to die for you, but you must accept what He did personally for you, by asking Him to forgive the sins you have committed and enter into a personal relationship with Him in faith and choose to turn away from what is sinful to God.

Good afternoon to everyone who has found or stumbled upon my first and opening blog,

Well, here I go into the world of "blogging" which is quite interesting that I would begin such a project, being that I have never read another person's blog before. At least no one will be able to state that I am a plagiarist or try to be like someone else.

I cannot really begin to predict how long I will continue to write this blog or how often I will update it, only that I know this will be the beginning of a new adventure for me. (A Genesis of shorts I suppose) Although I will be free to speak my mind, I will do my best to funnel what I say, to be filtered through what God's word proclaims. After all, my opinion should not be important to anyone anyway, it is just what I believe to be true, however,  what God has to proclaim through His word,  is vitally and eternally important to everyone. God's word has been the only thing that has never been in error, and will stand the test of time, which a person can be confident is true.

In a future blog I will give reasons for why we can have confidence in what God's word proclaims.

I would like to share a few things regarding my blog that I hope readers will keep in mind. First, as you will quickly see, writing is not my strength, if you become irradiated with my average writing skills, I would encourage you to find people who write for a living or have developed their skills beyond my natural ability.
When I began to think about this, I found it was humorous because I am going to send out an invitation to this site to my sixth grader teacher which I was reconnected with through facebook. Funny, she knew I was not a good English student over 40 plus years and I am going to prove her wisdom.

At this point, I will end this blog because I know most people's schedules, attention spans and retention is very short with the world in which we live,  and the tons of information that is thrown at us each and everyday.

I hope my blogs will be clear and to the point but even more important, to help you think about the world we live in and what the real meaning in life is and how it is to be applied.

God Bless thanks for visiting!
Rick