Is the H1N1 virus more virulent than other flu bugs? I don't know. I know the media is having a hey day with all the sensationalizing of the illness. But when you consider the fact that during any given week during the regular flu season 1000 people die we simply need to remember that any illness can become serous if not taken seriously. Simple steps like thorough hand washing especially after contact with another person will go a long way to helping avoid the spread of this disease. Any illness not taken seriously can lead to sever complications just like when we don't take sin seriously. Sin's attack is subtle, no one walks out and decides, today I am going to commit adultery. It begins with an innocent compliment from or to a coworker. It leads to confiding in that person, and long before any physical act has taken place the sin of emotional adultery has long since been committed. No one wakes up today and says today I am going to commit murder typically it takes a long line of lesser crimes before one builds to the taking of a life. We extinguish small fires because when we don't they burn down homes and country sides. Satan loves to ignite little flames just to see how big of a fire he can get going in your life. Sin is sin and we need to recognize it as being sin. There are not big sins or little sins. In the eyes of God, sin is sin and we must never forget that God does not take sin lightly.
"Be sure your sins will find you out." Numbers 32:23

In Case of Emergency

The mayor of Moscow promises a snow free winter. Maybe you have seen the headlines, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov promised to use the Russian air force to drop chemicals on the moisture laden clouds before they get to Moscow causing them to drop all of their precipitation before reaching the city. Is manipulating the weather manipulating God? I don't think so but do we not, at times, try to manipulate God? “If you save me God I'll be a missionary.” Okay God here’s $5 now bless me. I asked my congregation yesterday, who is God to you? For many of us God and our communication with Him are, "In Case of Emergency" only. He is kept safely behind the glass of self sufficiency. But like the glass you break to get to the fire alarm God sometimes has to shatter your pride, or smash your sense of arrogance in order to remind you that He is God. What a shame it is that we require such reminders. How sad it is that God is our parachute, we’re glad He’s there but we sure hope we never have to pull the rip cord. Ask yourself this, if prayer were like a telephone, would God be on your speed dial because, like your best friend, you call him often, or because He is like 911, the button that is there but you certainly don’t want to need?

Is There Joy in the Journey?

I wonder if there is joy in your journey. We spend too much trying to get somewhere. We have to get to work; we have to get to the store; we have get the kids to school. I am learning that God's will for my life is not a destination, it is an adventure. Did you ever take a walk on the beach? Where were you going? That is the way we should view life, as if each and every moment of each and every day is a precious treasure from God. Those moments getting ready, those moments getting the kids ready, those moments stuck in traffic. If you don't have these moments then you have no life, because that is what life is, a succession of moments. Take them for what they are, treasures to be treasured. And we would do well keep in mind that once the moments have passed they are gone they can never be retrieved, or relived, only remembered.