Born Again

Born Again at Christmas

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Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 
John 3:3 ESV

This famous verse comes at the start of a conversation between a Jewish teacher, named Nicodemus and Jesus. Interestingly, Nicodemus had just finished saying that he knew that Jesus must have come from God because of the miracles he had seen Him doing. Then Jesus interrupts him, to say, “Unless you are born again, you cannot see who I really am!” Jesus was happy that Nicodemus understood that Jesus came from God, but he wanted Nicodemus to see the whole picture; and for that to happen, Nicodemus needed to be spiritually reborn.

Just as Jesus had to be born, in order to come to earth, we must ask God to change our hearts in order to receive eternal life and go to Heaven. Just as Jesus had to be born as a real human baby, we must be born again to receive the life He came to bring. Jesus came to earth at Christmas. Now God is asking us to receive Him into our hearts as our Savior, so that we can be born again and spend an eternity of Christmases with Him!

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Wallpaper Removal and A New Creation

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Recently my wife and I tackled a small project in our bathroom. The wallpaper having been around since the Reagan presidency had earned a well deserved retirement. My past experiences with wallpaper involved buckets of vinegar and water followed by hours of frustration and scraping. In this modern age I was advised of new and better things.

Reality set in after carefully following all directions to perforate the paper spray and wait 5 minutes. Hmmm well other than smelling differently than vinegar and costing 10 times as much the results were about the same. One hour in with 10% of our tiny bathroom finished I called Home Depot asking if they didn’t have anything stronger. A steamer is what you need for old wallpaper I was told. I wasn’t sure why anyone would remove new wall paper but I shelled out another $50 figuring this would do the trick. Weeeeeell not so much! Another 7 hours of steaming and scraping brought us to the brilliant conclusion that we should have just ripped out the wall and put in new sheet rock!

That’s exactly what Jesus has in mind for our life in Christ. No amount of steaming and scraping of our outsides has any impact on our hearts. Only on the cross as Jesus spilled His blood could an entirely new life be given us. God decided to completely remove all our past by the death of His Son so He could begin again with a brand new creation!

My Easter Miracle – Part Two

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How Easter Found Me

How in the world I ended up 3,000 miles from home was a tangle of events ranging from a broken home where my parents seemed to me as confused as I was. Adding in plenty of recreational drug use and my decision at 17 to move out on my own and you might begin to get the picture of how I ended up sitting in that pew owning nothing more than a guitar and two changes of clothing in a back pack.

adult adventure backpack daylight

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The church service began with some happy singing and clapping. That was definitely something I had missed at the Lutheran and Congregational churches my parents had brought me on occasion.

Once the singing ended the pastor gave a message but the words of his sermon really weren’t what connected with my heart. What really penetrated was the love that I felt all day from the people around me. Here were folks who seemed genuinely concerned, not just looking for some angle to get something out of me. When I had traveled through California I had met others who had told me about Jesus. Some even invited me to church but I was afraid to commit myself. It all seemed strange and though the idea of believing in Jesus was appealing, it also seemed like too simple of a solution. Could finding the most important thing in life really be so easy? It would take a miracle to break through all my fears and excuses and regrets.  But it was Easter and on Easter miracles happen.  Continue reading →