Happy Valentine's Day!

On this special day that elevates and promotes love, I think it’s important to be reminded of the amazing love of God.  Did you know, dear reader, that the awesome, majestic, all-powerful, Creator of the universe actually loves you?  He does.  The Bible makes this undeniably clear.

In John 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world…” let me stop right there.  Many of us have read this verse so many times that it becomes too familiar to us.  Read slowly.  “For God so loved the world.”  God loves the world, you and me, so deeply, and so intensely.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.”  The love God had was so amazing and so strong that He took it upon Himself to send Jesus Christ to a minuscule speck in the galaxy called Earth.  That’s a pure, selfless, unconditional love! 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes…” Whoever.  That is, anyone at all.  It’s not just for a select few.  Whoever desires to accept Jesus’ gift of salvation on their behalf can do so.  “Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  In John 17:3, Jesus defines eternal life.  He is praying before His imminent crucifixion.  For the benefit of the disciples, who were no doubt listening in, He says, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  Eternal life simply means knowing God; to have a genuine relationship with God; to have a personal friendship and fellowship with Him.

It’s a wonderful gift to be loved by a significant other on Valentine’s Day.  What a tremendous blessing!  I don’t intend to minimize this special relationship in the least.  I hope you cherish and adore your special Valentine today and every day.  At the same time, the truth is, a human being cannot love you with a perfect love, but God can and God does!

Kevin

My allegory (part 2)

“Years passed, and Unbeliever was now a boy.  While we are still only barely into the genesis of Unbeliever’s story, many would say that the events that are about to be described are the most important thing to ever happen to Unbeliever.

It was a beautiful day and so Unbeliever decided to take a walk outside.  At some point in the stroll, Unbeliever was ambushed by a blinding white light.  After it subsided, a man was suddenly standing before Unbeliever.  “Unbeliever, I know you are just a boy, but I don’t want you to be ignorant about me anymore,” said the man.  He went on to speak of the sin that was infecting Unbeliever’s soul.  He said that the price of his sin had been paid by Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross, so all that remained is for a person to choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unbeliever knew that what the man was saying was true, so he said, “I believe!  I want to have my sins forgiven.  I want to become a Christian.  I wholeheartedly believe!”  The man smiled and announced, “Thus, no longer shall your name be Unbeliever.  For you now believe, therefore from now on, you shall be known as Believer.

He continued, “One more thing: you don’t remember, but we have met before.  I rescued you from Disease as a baby.”  Believer began to cry.  “I…I was told of this story,” Believer replied trying to compose himself.  “It is wonderful to finally meet you.  Thank you so much, for everything.  But if I may be so bold, what is your name?”  Believer asked.  “For today, call me the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).”

By the way, before concluding for today, let me state that this chapter of the story allegorically captures the inner transformation that occurred in my heart when I was only six years old.  In 1987, my parents and I went to a Billy Graham crusade.  Dr. Graham proclaimed the truth of the gospel with his usual boldness, clarity, and passion that day.  When he issued his alter call, I told my parents that I needed to go forward.  God, by His Holy Spirit, illuminated the truth to me.  I became a Christian that day.  It is the best decision that I have ever made in my life!

Let me also mention that I've included a great link from the website got questions.org regarding Jesus' potent words in John 14:6.  Check it out if you are so inclined.

Kevin

http://www.gotquestions.org/way-truth-life.html

 

"Here's what happened:"

I love the television show “Monk” starring Tony Shalhoub.  Whenever Detective Adrian Monk (the main star of the show) solved a case he would usually begin his summation of how the perpetrator orchestrated the crime by saying, “Here’s what happened.”  Just so you all know, in my last blog, I presented an allegorized version of something that did actually occur in my life when I was just a baby.  Before moving on, I thought I’d briefly mention those events.  So as Monk would say, “Here’s what happened:”

I was healed as a baby from what was diagnosed as “Infantile Spasms.”  This simply means that, as an infant, I was having multiple seizures.  I was on many different medicines, and while they minimized the seizures, they never got rid of them completely. 

When I was ten months old, I was in the hospital as I had been many other times.  On this visit, for some inexplicable reason, I flat-lined for three minutes.  I’m told that I turned a shade of blue.  After those minutes eclipsed, however, God brought me back to this life; furthermore, the seizures stopped entirely!  Some suggested to my parents that they should keep me on the medicines, and that I would begin to have them again after getting over the shock of dying.  But they believed (correctly) that God had healed me, and that the medicines were no longer necessary.  It has been over thirty years now, and I have never had a seizure again!

As I portrayed in the allegory, my parents wrote a song glorifying and praising God for healing me.  Further, I thought it was important to document the fact that my parents were faithful to pass my healing on to me.  It is obviously possible for that whole episode of my infancy to have taken place, only to never be apprised of the events that occurred.  So I thank them for sharing what happened with me.  More than anything else, I thank God (the hero of this whole story) for miraculously delivering me from that horrible disease.

Kevin

My allegory (part 1)

I am currently going through a college class where we were recently asked to write an allegorical paper that documents some of the major spiritual events that occurred in our lives.  While this is the first time that I’ve ever tried my hand at writing in the genre of allegory (so I’m not at all proposing that I’m an expert at it), I still really like the way that it turned out.  I have decided to share it with you.

The way I have chosen to do this is to submit it to you in installments.  The paper ended up being five sections, so for today I will share the first segment with you.  Next time, I’ll share the second chapter, and so on.  I realize that this is a bit different format than normal for this blog, but I hope that you will enjoy it.  More than that, I hope that it shows you the greatness and majesty of the God that I serve.

“Long ago, a baby named Unbeliever was born.  For the first few months of this boy’s life nothing remarkable occurred, but that changed when Unbeliever was just four months old.  A cruel and unforgiving adversary named Disease kidnapped Unbeliever and took him to his Fortress of Illness.  Disease allowed Unbeliever’s parents to continue to feed and nourish the child at various times of the day.  While this may be perceived by some as mercy, it really was anything but that.  It was despairing for Unbeliever’s parents to see their boy in Disease’s icy grip.  They didn’t have the power to release him from the Fortress of Illness.

This episode continued for six months.  At this point, Unbeliever was on the brink of death.  When all seemed lost a brave hero, who rode on a white horse, galloped up to the Fortress.  Disease was furious at this intrusion.  “Who are you?”  Disease fumed.  “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14; NIV), the Hero responded, “and I’m here to rescue this poor boy from your clutches.”  “Not without a fight,” Disease replied.  Disease took out a sword, but the hero also had a sword.  You would be incorrect to call this a sword fight as the Hero subdued and conquered Disease in mere moments.

After this, the Hero made His way to the room that Unbeliever was trapped in; He skillfully kicked down the door.  Unbeliever’s parents were by his bedside as the life ebbed away from him.  The Hero knelt down by the boy’s bed.  He spoke to the now lifeless child, “little boy,” He began.  “I say to you, get up (Mark 5:41).”  The baby opened his eyes.  “He is healed,” the hero announced to the child’s parents, who had tears falling from their eyes.

“Furthermore, Disease is defeated.  Take the boy and return to your home.  Do not neglect to pass on to him what has happened here today.”  “Thank you, kind sir, thank you.  But what is your name?”  Unbeliever’s mother asked.  “I am known by many names,” the rescuer answered gently.  “But for today, “I am the Lord who heals you”” (Exodus 15:26).

The gallant Hero got on His white horse and rode off into the distance.  The boy’s parents were obedient to the Hero’s request to pass this saga’s events to their son.  They wrote a song, glorifying and praising the One who had rescued their boy from Disease’s clutches as they sang it for the rest of their lives.”

Kevin

My Super Bowl prediction

It’s the so-called Harbaugh Bowl, as two brothers coach against each other in a Super Bowl for the first time ever.  That’s not the only storyline, of course.  It’s Colin Kapernick versus Ray Lewis and the Ravens defense; it’s Joe Flacco against a stingy 49ers defense.  I think this game will be a great game for people to watch.

What is my prediction?  Well, I think the Ravens defense is going to have some challenges stopping Kapernick and the 49ers read-option offensive attack.  Conversely, Joe Flacco will make a lot of big plays with his arm.  Conventional wisdom would suggest that the 49ers will win this game (in fact, last time I checked San Francisco was favored).  The 49ers are a proud NFL organization that has never lost a Super Bowl that they have been involved in.  Having said all that, my prediction is that the Ravens will win.

One of the reasons I say this is because the Ravens are feeding off of the energy of the great linebacker Ray Lewis.  They are playing their hearts out for their emotional leader.  They are trying to win one more ring for Lewis, as he has announced he will retire at the end of the year.  Secondly, all throughout the playoffs Baltimore has been playing in the underdog role.  They have excelled in winning games that many thought that they wouldn’t win.  I predict the Baltimore Ravens will find a way to win Super Bowl 47.  I think it will be a close, hard fought, back and forth game, but I say the Ravens will win 31-27.  Joe Flacco will be the MVP of the game.

Kevin

The book "The Soul of Spider-Man"

Recently, I came across an intriguing book entitled “The Soul of Spider-Man” by Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer.  The subtitle is “Unexpected Spiritual Insights Found in the Legendary Super-hero Series.”  This is a book that talks about some of the Biblical truths presented in the Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire.  Here’s part of the description from the back cover of the book:

“Inspired by three of the biggest box-office smashes of all time, The Soul of Spider-Man zooms in beyond the special effects and big stars to some surprising spiritual lessons you can learn from the Spider-Man films.  Each of the movies is a powerhouse of truth about life, love, good, evil, revenge, forgiveness and making the right choices.”

I am in agreement with the authors of this book: the Spider-Man trilogy presents the viewer with truths that we find in the Word of God.  For an example, in Spider-Man 3, Peter Parker (alias Spider-Man) says, “Whatever comes our way; whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice.  It’s the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what’s right.”  This statement impacted me so much that I have this quote framed and on a wall in my room.  In short, I highly recommend "The Soul of Spider-Man" to you.

Kevin

Thank you, Broncos!

I know this particular blog installment is about a week late, but I thought I’d extend a word of congratulations to the Denver Broncos on an exciting year.  Yes, the season didn’t last as long as they would have liked.  We didn’t get the Peyton Manning/ Tom Brady showdown in the AFC championship as was expected.  But even so, it was fun to be a Broncos fan.  Let me hit some of the highlights:

In the offseason, Peyton Manning signed with Denver, but there was uncertainty.  Would Manning still be the same quarterback?  He showed that he still has it as he posted one of the greatest seasons of his career (I can say this with confidence because I’ve been a fan of Peyton for many years).  It was so fantastic to see Manning play at such a high level!

Another highlight for me was watching Denver storm back from a 24-0 deficit against San Diego back in October.  I’ve already blogged about that game, but that’s one of more impressive comebacks I’ve seen in a while.

A third highlight is, until that loss to Baltimore, Denver had won eleven games in a row, which is second most in franchise history (the longest is the last time the Broncos won the Super Bowl, that year they won thirteen games in a row).  You don’t win eleven games in a row by just showing up on game day.  It takes intense preparation, strong mental focus, and playing together as a team.

Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens on a well played game.  They never quit fighting and they found a way to win and knock Denver out of the playoffs.  My apologies to any Patriots fan, but I am pulling for the Ravens to win the AFC championship game and advance to Super Bowl 47.

Kevin