Why does God allow pain and suffering?

A few months ago someone asked if there was a God why does He allow so many bad things to happen. This is a good question now that we see all the things Katrina has done to Louisiana. I did not have a good answer for that question. I am not a Bible scholar. I wish I did have all the answers, but I don't. Maybe this will help.

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen. It's an explanation other people will understand.

A man went to a barbershop to have his haircut and his beard trimmed!
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.
The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:
"You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. I just worked on you!"
No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."
"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Author Unknown

I hope this helps a little.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters who have lost homes, property and lives due to hurricane Katrina.

God bless,
Joe

Why does God allow pain and suffering?

Are you more important than a bird?

First you take two Starburst Tropical Punch Chews and very carefully unwrap them. Now take a mini marshmallow and put it between the two candies. What do you have? A candy sandwich, of course . How do I know? My three-year-old told me.

Zach: "Dad, you want one?"

me: "No thanks, buddy."

Zach: (In his little three year old voice.) "They are good."

me: "Thanks man, but I am not hungry right now. By the way, what is it?"

Zach: "It is a candy sandwich. Do you want one? They are good." (Same cute little three year old voice.)

me: "Not right now, bud."

Zach: "They will make your feet feel good."

me: (With a stupid look on my face.) "What?"

Zach: "They will make your feet feel good."

me: "Make my feet feel good?"

Zach: "Yeah from the mosquito bites."

See we had just came in from outside and were eaten up by mosquitoes.

I just look at him with that proud-to-be-a-dad-smile, and say, "Dude, no thanks but that is a great idea."

He just smiles and looks up at me and says, "I have another great idea."

Let me stop here and say, Zach is not the smartest three-year-old in the world but he is much smarter than I ever was at that age. So this whole conversation is just amazing to me. Alright back to the story.

By now it is dark outside and it has started raining, lightning and thundering. Zach doesn't like lightning much.

"So what is your idea, son?"

"We could get a spaceship and fly up into the air."

me: "A base hit?"

"No dad, a spaceship."

me: "A class trip?"

"Dad, I said a spaceship."

me: "Oh, a spaceship. Gotcha." Sorry but some times a three year old is hard to understand.

"We can take the spaceship and fly up around the clouds and go from Sheck's house (Zach's best friend) to Hunter's friends house, to the church and back home and push all of the clouds away. And then the lightning and thunder will be gone. That's a good idea, huh dad?"

"That is an awesome idea, boy!" As I picked him up and gave him a hug.

"So dad, do you want a candy sandwich? They are good."

"Sure man, Ill try one."

You know what, those thing were pretty good, but I think the cherry ones would have been better.

I was just wondering how many of these type converations I missed while I was traveling. I know the traveling was part of my job. But was having a job that kept me from my family worth having at all? I work so I can take care of my family. But because of work I was missing my family. This is where God stepped in. He knew my needs and took care of me. I now have a job where I am home everyday and weekend. I am reminded of Luke12:24, "Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more." From the Message Bible. God will take care of you too.

Are you more more important than a bird?

The Bible says you are!

Are you more important than a bird?

I said I wanted to go to the ocean not the mountains.

I love collecting funny pictures. I use them in presentations for work to make things a little less boring. I use them while teaching my Sunday school class. At appropriate times, of course. And I use them just to cheer me up. I just don't know how to use this one. This one was a winner of funny pictures over at Doug Fields' website. Look at this kid's face, he looks like he did this on purpose.

I hope you guys are having a better day than this guy.

God bless, Joe

I said I wanted to go to the ocean not the mountains.

A tribute

If you have been visiting my blog for any period of time, you will notice a couple of things about what I post. One, I do not do politics. The word politics in Latin is "poli" meaning many and "tics" meaning blood sucking insects. Politics are not what this blog is about, if you want to read about politics there are plenty of those type blogs out there. I also try not to comment on things that everyone else is posting about at that particular time. I like to be different. I guess that is an understatement.

Anyway there is one thing I do comment on that may be considered something political. That is our armed forces. I know I have readers from all over the world who visit this site. And I would hope that you would agree to, but no mater where you live you should always support your troops. I don't care if you do not believe a country should or should not be at war, you should always support your troops! I have a lot to say about this matter but I am not going to. I am going to let the tribute speak for itself. So if you are interested please click on my title "A tribute" and it will link you to a very special page.

And to all you service people out there, thank you and God bless,
Joe

Link A tribute

Thank Jimmy.

I have a very good friend named Jimmy. It is kind of a weird situation because Jimmy is A LOT older than I am. (Jimmy likes it when I make mention about him being old. hehe) Even though Jimmy is older than I am, you would never tell it by his actions and attitude. I think I have told you guys before, Jimmy and I love to work with the youth at our church. We have been on many excursions with them, church and non church related events. One such event was when one high school student called us to help him with a video for a school project. It was a video about Mole Day, I don't know, something to do with math I think. Needless to say, Seth made an A on the project. Maybe one day I will be able to post videos on my blog and I will post some of them for you guys. We do a lot for our youth group and most of them are stinking hilarious.

Anyway back to Jimmy. the other day he wrote on his blog "BEING GODS", that it would have been nice at this juncture in his lifeto be a world famous musician or author, and have been interviewed by Oprah, or Diane Sawyer, or even Barbara Waters. Have his face planted on the cover of People, which by the way is a blessing for all of us that it has not been. LOL He wasn't down one himself or anything like that, he was just, I guess, day dreaming a little. But I found a poem I would like to share with you guys, to me this is Jimmy in a nutshell.

In A Hundred Years Time

In a hundred years time it won't matter
If the house you've lived in wasn't done,
The garden and outside wasn't finished,
Or the chores not even begun.

In a hundred years time it won't matter
If the paint still sat in the tin,
That was meant for the wall in the study.
Would it really be such a sin?

In a hundred years time it won't matter
If that shiny new car was not yours?
Or that fancy new watch you'd admired
Still sat in the case at the stores?

In a hundred years time it won't matter
If you were never on TV,
You'd never reached Hollywood stardom
Or even been in a movie.

At sunset a graveyard is quiet
As you quietly move through the leaves
You'll see life summed up on each headstone.
What kind of treasures are these?

Store up your treasures in heaven
where thieves and moths cannot find.
Love God, love your neighbor as yourself
Be patient, gentle, and kind.

Live today and enjoy it.
Grasp every moment you can.
For life is the eternal race-
No winners, it's just that you ran.

~Author Unknown

So Mr. Jimmy, ask anyone who knows and loves you and they will tell you, to us you are:
A movie star - in our youth videos.
An awesome musician - in our youth choir and Sunday morning services.
A great author - "Being Gods" need I say more.

Thanks for letting God be your guide because if not who would the youth go to when they need to talk to a wise, mature elderly man (I am trying to make up for the two shots earlier) when they have a problem they are to scared to go to their parents about. Or someone to take them to lunch at some out of the way hole in the wall to buy beef nuggets. Or just being there to answer the phone at 2 in the morning when the youth are still up and being mischievous.

Live today and enjoy it.
Grasp every moment you can.
For life is the eternal race-
No winners, it's just that you ran.

You are our winner, thanks for running with us.

If any of you guys like my blog, please go by and tell Jimmy thank you. Because without his prompting I would have never even thought of doing a blog. He is the reason there is a "God even loves idiots like me."

God bless, Joe

Thank Jimmy.

Have marker will travel.

First things first, I am glad these are not my kids because my wife would have a cow. That being said, I know there is a Bible lesson here, but for the life of me I can't think of one right now. Because every time I look at this, I just crack up! ANY THOUGHTS? How about, Psalm 51:7, "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." I know, I know that is weak but (hehe) just look at that little babies eyes. I guess I should be a little more serious, but look at the little one on the left, they are so proud of what they have done (HAHA). You guys just talk amongst yourselves, I can't type and laugh at the same time (BWAAAHAHAHA).

I hope you guys got as good a laugh as I did. Hope your weekend has been a good one.

God bless, Joe

Have marker will travel.

Stuck!

My friend Old Guy, over at Old Guys Tree House, said in one of his posts that he had nuthin. Nuthing to say that is. Me I have plenty to say, I am just STUCK. I want to talk about what is happening in my life but I have been doing that a little to much lately. I like to keep things on my blog a little light hearted. What I have been trying to do is post something personal then later in the week steal something funny from someone else and post it then. I mean, uh, borrow something from someone. Yeah, yeah that's the ticket. So I am stuck. Oh well at least I ain't stuck like the little guy in the picture.
Have a great day.
God bless,
Joe

Stuck!

God, are You sure that's how You want to do it?

Have you ever heard the one about the man who lived in a midwestern town that was located in a valley between two rivers. There was a terrible flood and both rivers overflowed their banks and the rains continued to fall day and night. The town was being flooded slowly but surely. Everyone was evacuated, except for one old man who refused to leave his house-which would soon become completely submerged.

"I have faith that God will save me," the old man shouted at everyone who asked him to leave and flee to higher ground. The man believed in the power of prayer, and he trusted that God would save him somehow.

As the water covered the roads, making them impassable for cars, a man in a four-wheel-drive truck stopped at the old man's house and banged on the door. "Hurry," he cried out. "Come with me and I'll drive you to safety! You haven't much time!" But the old man continued to pray. He would not leave his house.

Within hours, the water had risen several feet, completely flooding his home. The rain continued. The old man climbed up on the kitchen table and continue to pray. As the water was lapping at his heels, a man in a rowboat paddled up to the old man's kitchen window and shouted, "Sir, get in my boat! I'll take you to safety!"

"No," the old man shouted back. "God will deliver me from this flood!"

The water got deeper and soon the old man had no choice but to climb up on his roof. The torrential rains persisted. While he was praying, he heard the chop-chop-chop of a helicopter in the sky. He looked up and saw the helicopter hovering over his house. A ladder had been lowered for him to climb.

"Go away," yelled the man at the helicopter. "You will blow me off my roof! God is going to save me! You go save someone else!"

The helicopter couldn't wait forever, so it left the old man on his rooftop, still praying. Eventually, the water engulfed the house and the old man perished in the flood.

When the old man arrived at the gates of heaven, he asked Saint Peter if he could have a talk with God. Peter took him to he throne of grace.

"Oh Lord, I prayed earnestly for the rains to stop and for your deliverance from the flood. But you left me there to drown. I don't understand!"

"My child, I heard your prayers. I sent you a four-wheel-drive truck, a rowboat, and a helicopter. Why did you send them away?"

Author Unknown

First of all, I want to thank all of you that have been praying for me over the past few weeks. I am so blessed to have friends like you guys. So let me ask you guys something. Has God ever answered one of your prayers in a way completely different than the way you would have done it?

As most of you know, my doctor told me to find a new job or work on my stress management. Like I said, I really don't feel stressed. Really! So after the doctor told me stress way killing me, I decided to get my resume together and start looking for a job. That was Friday, then on Sunday a fellow co-worker passed away. Man, what a crappy weekend. This is where God does His thing and throws me for a loop. The next week my boss presented my with an opportunity. At first I thought it was a demotion but know I realize it was a blessing is disguise.

God once again has answered my prayers in a completely different way that I ever expected. You see the man who passed away was going to retire in the near future. Our company hired a very cool young man to to replace another man who had retired earlier this year. Unknown to most of us, they had hired this guy not just to replace this first guy who retired but he was going to move up and replace the guy who passed away when he retired. (Have I lost anyone yet.) So this is where God's timing is always prefect. They promoted the young man this week and I am going to take his job. I know I am rambling but I am trying to make a point. My point, God always answers prayer, either yes, no or wait. The answer may not be how you thought it would be and it may not be when you want it, but He always answers. Man, our God is so cool.

I kind of feel like the guy in the flood, looking for one thing when God sends me something else. Only difference, I see God has answered my prayers and my friends prayers!

Thanks again for all your prayers. You guys are great.
God bless,
Joe

God, are You sure that's how You want to do it?

Wow, what a ride!

Hundred miles per hour, holding on for dear life and screaming at the top of my lungs.

This is a pretty good description of how my life is right now. I have to have a medical procedure in a few weeks, I am not looking foreword to it either. While the doctor told me I was going to have to have this procedure he also said I need to find a way to manage my stress or get a new job. He said the stress is killing me. Funny, I don't feel stressed. At least not until he told me I was going to have to miss a few days of work because of this thing he is going to do to me.

Then today the president of my company calls me into his office and tells me he wants me to consider a new job position. Or rather, take the job because my exsiting job may not be there in six months. Hmmm, no brainer. Looks like I will be working in the sales department in a few weeks. Other than that, everything is smooth sailing, at least for the time being.

Remember, don't tell God how big your storms are, tell your storms how big your God is!

God bless, Joe

Wow, what a ride!