Cwillz Spills

I was reading through Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians today and thinking about who or what the “restrainer” is in 2:6-7.

6And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.

7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Evidently Paul is trying to tell the people in the church about the way the end times are going to go down.  He is talking about the “man of lawlessness” or “son of destruction” that will come (in other words the Antichrist).  There is some power, force, or energy that Paul assume the Thessalonians know about that is “restraining”.

What or who is the restrainer?  People say all sorts of things.  Like, such as: Ronald Reagan, the Roman Empire, government in general, the Holy Spirit, specific angels, the spread of the Gospel to ever people group, the separation or combination of the Church and stat(es), a general spirit of Obedience, etc.

I took a break from my reading and from going over a paper I wrote a few years back on the subject to take a shower.  When I came back, Snickers was sleeping on my Bible.  It clicked.  My cat is keeping the man of lawlessness in check.

Sorry for being such a dork.  Read your Bible and talk about it.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

It is time to thank the Lord for His goodness this year. I’m making this post a tradition by repeating it from last year.

An abridged list of things for which I am thankful:

• My students, volunteers, and fellow staff at CCC.

• Friends that tell me the truth bluntly and lovingly.

• That people pray for me.

• Continued understanding and growth from relationships in my family.

• To have people who believe in me.

• That God has given me a love for His people and has not let me get away with despising some of my truest brothers and sisters.

• That pain isn’t always bad.

• Provision of every kind.

• I learned how to budget.

• Even though my best friends are scattered across the country I still hear from them.

• I got to travel to Jamaica with some great people and be encouraged by the faith of the people we met there.

• I got less fat.

• There were people genuinely interested in hearing why I voted for who I did even when we made different choices.

• I graduated! That last paper almost did me in.

• That I learned how to fly fish.

• This blog keeps going.

Life is a gift and blessing.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

It’s (past) time to give again. This time I wanted to point your attention to something that really intrigues me. A major challenge to individuals, families, and even nations in our time is the cost of healthcare and I have found some people that are doing more than complaining.

While I have already written about the reasons for the cost of health care and the way to reduce them, I want to show you a place that takes principles from the earliest expressions of the Kingdom and puts them into actual practice today.

Christian Healthcare Ministries is an organization that acts in a similar way as insurance companies do, but its goal is to help the members (and not the executives). From their website:

Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM) is an affordable, faith-based solution for Christians to rising health care costs and expensive health insurance policies. We are a nationwide group of Christian individuals and families united to voluntarily share each other’s medical bills. In the past 15 years alone, members of this non-profit ministry have shared more than $450 million in healthcare costs.

If you want to give without being a “member” you have to send a check (to be honest it is a pain to me–Paypal is always good). If you are interested in being a member, it is worth your time to check our what they offer and think about how this can help you and others.

Its funny how the other day I was explaining the difference between socialism and the “communalism” de[pre?]scribed in Acts 2 and we were struggling to imagine what it looks like when Christians today pool their resources to help each other.

Hope you check it out and get creative with your love.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Thanks to Pastor Chuck for the reference.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Time flies like arrows, but fruit flies like bananas.

From: Jim Spiegel

Thought it would make you smile.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

This is one of those words I have read time and time again and pretended to know what it meant.  Malleable.  I looked it up about a week ago and have been thinking about it since.

Malleable means “able to be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking.”

In January I sat around a table with other Christian Ed seniors from Taylor.  Somehow the conversation turned to motivation and how “God got a hold of us”.  Our professor highlighted the extremes (paraphrase):  “For some people it like God just whispers in their ear, for others it is like God knocks them flat on their face.”  When he said the last part, I involuntarily agreed aloud and my contemporaries noticed laughingly.

God is a good father and knows what we need much better than we do.  At just the right time, He will move in our lives in innumerable ways.  I hear God in whispers, but God also gets a hold of me driving me to my knees and face. Sometimes — sometimes often–it is like God needs to pound us out to shape us like a metalworker beautifies his art or makes a tool for a specific job.  I often imagine my close friends watching what God is doing with/to/in/through me and cringing like parents who have to let their children go into surgery.

Malleable.  Able to be pounded on without breaking or cracking.  Sometimes I wonder just how hard and how long God needs to pound.  I think that the next blow will break me.

“Just trust me,” He says.  He works and works.  It hurts.  The work is all his.  It’s like getting a root canal.  When he is done, its often sore for a while, but its better. Again, its what you need/ed.  When the hammer falls, it is our option to surrender and ask that His will be done.  In surrender, we love and trust that His pounding is making us into what he wants and needs.  His pounding will not break or crack us if we surrender to Him.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

On May 18th, I was handed a diploma holder and a towel as I walked across the stage during commencement from Taylor University. The towel is a reminder from the alumni association to follow Christ in serving others in humility (John 13).

The thing about the towel is that it’s value is somehow connected to its use.  A towel is used for drying, and a rag is used for cleaning.  If your life is like a a towel or a rag, you will occasionally get wet and you will get filthy — but that is part of being useful.

Revelation’s warning to the church of Laodeica is: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” This passage is said to refer to usefulness by implying that hot and cold water are moving.  Hot and cold water have their purposes, but stagnant, lukewarm water quickly becomes useless and nonpotable.

Part of our purpose is to actively and usefully clean up the world we live in.  But how does water make itself hot or cold?? How does a towel get used for the good?  How does a rag become a used and filthily fulfilled rag?

To be used by God, we have to allow him to take us, use us, and to humbly be his:

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Repent, sit and be God’s, read this chapter.  Take on life to its fullest.

Be hot, be cold, keep moving, be useful.  Be filthy and used from cleaning up a world in need.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

I haven’t done something this silly since middle school, but it was so fun that I did it twice. I’ll pick the best answer, you can laugh and make fun of me in comments.

1. Put your iTunes/Windows Media Player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
1)“Underdog” – Audio Adrenaline
2)”Preach” – P.O.D.

Gotta go with “Preach”

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
1)“One Step Hyper” – Audio Adrenaline
2)”Stay (Wasting Time) – DMB

I’m thinking #1.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
1)“Fortunate Son” – Creedance Clearwater Revival
2)“A Conversation” – David Crowder Band

#2 for sure. #1 is a little creepy.

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
1)“Yes I Can” – Conkrete Angels / Richie Righteous
2)”Chubb” – Beanbag

Both, actually.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
1)“Grace Like Rain” – Todd Agnew
2)”Who Am I” – Casting Crowns

Hmm, it’s a little too late at night for debates about determinism so I’ll go #1.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
1)“Can’t Breathe” – Disciple
2)”Stay a Little Longer” – Willy Nelson

#2

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
1)“Bless the Broken Road” – Rascal Flatts
2)”More than a Feeling” – Boston

Umm, you tell me.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
1)“Cold As You” – Taylor Swift
2)”T for Texas” – Tompall Glaser

#1 right now.

WHAT IS 2+2?
1)“Whiskey Before Breakfast” – The Nashville Mandolins
2)”Hollow Again” – Project 86

#1 because it’s a song that everyone knows but may not know why

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
1)“Super Good Feeling” – Bleach
2)”I Want You” – KISS

#1. #2 is kinda creepy.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
1)“Mockingbird” – Toby Keith and Krystal Covell
2)”Watch the Wind Blow By” – Tim McGraw

#2

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
1)“I Melt” – Rascal Flatts
2)“Rescue Is Coming (B Walk Down Stairs) – David Crowder Band

#2 I guess.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
1)“We Are the ones” – Value Pac
2)”Till I Gain Control Again”- Willy Nelson

Dunno

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
1)“Walk Right In” – Rooftop Singers
2)”Offering” – Third Day

#1

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
1)“Please Be with Me” – Eric Clapton
2)”The Last Remaining Light” – Audioslave

haha – #1 for Mom, #2 for Dad

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
1)“Exodus” – Bob Marley
2)”Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” – Stave Wariner

#1!!!!

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
1)“Golden Slippers” – The Nashville Mandolins
2)”Lonesome Town” – MxPx

Ummmm..

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
1)“Sorry So Sorry” – MxPx
2)”Down In the Valley” Johnny Cash

Neither.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
1)“Never Let ‘Em C U Sweat” – Nelly & the Teamsters
2)”Redemption” – Switchfoot

I’m not telling (cough one cough)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
1)“Bottom Feeder” – Project 86
2)”Christalen” – MxPx

#1

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
1)“Blowin’ In The Wind” – Joan Baez
2)”Got to Choose” – Kiss

#1, freedom of choice is better than chance

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
1)“Me Against Me” – Project 86
2)”Stars” – David Crowder

#2 I hope.

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
1)“Keep on the Sunny Side” – Johnny Cash & The Carter Family
2)”Te Compro Tu Novia” – Tropical Fantasia

Too busy laughing at the title of #2 to answer.

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
1)“Fur Elise” – Vince Guarldi Trio
2)”Goodbye Mrs. Durkin” – The Irish Rovers

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
1)“Give Me That Old Time Religion” – Nashville Mandolins
2)”If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Knows Your Dead)” –Rodney Atkins

Umm, both.

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
1)“Me and Paul” – Willy Nelson
2)”Cryin’” – Eric Clapton

#2 because I will not marry Paul. Does “cryin’” come before, during, or after?

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
1)“Over” – Evans Blue
2)”Days Go By” – Keith Urban

#1.

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
1)“Hallelujah” – Newsboys
2)”Railroad Lady” – Willie Nelson

#3. just a little bit shady, spending her days on the rails

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
1)“Diamonds In the Rough” – Johnny Cash and Mother Maybelle Carter
2)”Games People Play” – The Alan Parsons Project

Oh my.

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
1)“Scene D’ Amour” – Sarah Brightman
2)”Do You Enjoy the Distortion?” – Earthsuit

#1 if I translate it right.

WHAT WILL YOU CALL THIS NOTE?
1)“What If His People Prayed” – Casting Crowns
2)”Blow the House Down” – Disciple

It is finally here!!! and available for pre-order. I just got an email from Logos:

Logos Bible Software for Mac is almost ready to go. We are so close we are now accepting pre-orders.

http://www.MacBibleSoftware.com

Logos is a great Bible and Christian history study tool. Now it is sexy too

Buy me a copy while you are at it.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ