Too Much Honey could be Bad!

As was stated in the former blog, I am going to write a little on the things that I took for granted and the things that most Christian children do. As a child, I grew up on the campus at Fairhaven Baptist Church. I lived with my parents in the girls dorm. Yes, like many kids, I was spoiled. Not only materially, but also and more importantly, Spiritually. I was given a free ride through high school, with the exception of working a few hours here and there to pay for the little tuition needed. I was given my clothes, food, and anything else that I needed. Even though I hated to admit it, I was very spoiled. As I grew older, I was given a youth group. We had some kind of activity every single Tuesday night. Whether it was going to the Nursing Home, or visiting teen-agers, or a fun activity, I was there. I loved it. At least I thought I did. Deep down inside of me, I knew that my spirituallity was not my own. It was sadly my parents, my pastors, and my teachers. Oh yes, I heard preaching on having a religon of your own but I never thought it was important. I was still holding onto my parents' Spiritual coat tails. I was spiritually fed all these things, yet for the longest time I was sick of them. It is similar to honey. Yes, Honey is good for a person, but when too much is eaten, it can cause one to become sick. I had been given so much that I was sick of it. I began to hang out with other kids in the school who I knew were wrong in their actions but I still followed with them. For a time, it was only from a distance. Then we grew closer like all friends do. Before long, I was part of the "in crowd." I was part of the inner circle of friends. We would hang out together after school. This was not necessarily a bad thing. The bad thing was who I was hanging out with. We would go over to each others houses or go and play pool at a bowling alley. I would like to stress that this is not wrong. It is only wrong when we spend time with the wrong people. They are the crowd of the DEVIL. They will drag you down before you drag them up. Anyways, we would spend time together and before too long, I was listening to their music, and watching their videos. It even came to the point that I did not want to go home at night. I had enough of that "Honey." I thought that I was old enough to fend for myself. In my senior year of high school, at Fairhaven Baptist Academy, that I did not even want to attend any more. I thought that I would be happier at the local high school. I knew that I could still put on the act for the rest of the year. I thought if only I could hang on a few more months, I will be out of this place. I will never need any more of this "Honey. The reason I have been reviewing this condition in my life is because a verse that I recently read in Matthew 23:27. It says that, "... for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full fo dead men;s bones, and of all uncleanness." I had too much honey and I knew it and thought that I could live without it. Thankfully God intervened. If it were not for Him, I would not be near the place that I am today. I am not near where I should be or where I could be, but I am far ahead of where I might be. In conclusion, I want to say that there is one thing that I will watch out for, and I pray that you will in your own families, Don't Give The Youth of America Too Much Honey. Make them get a belief and Spirituallity of their own. Give them something to work for. I do not know how to do this but will search it out to find out. I want to say though that Spiritual Honey is good for them just do not give them too much. It is one of the ways the devil will decieve each of us within our families

You may ask why I have chosen this title for my personal blog. Let me go into a little about myself to answer your questions. Back on January 23, 2005, I went to work as usual. I cleaned at a car dealership about thirty minutes away from my house. When I arrived at work, I did not turn on the radio as I always did. This particular night did not seem like the usual night. Shortly after I began to work, I caught myself doing what I usually do when I am by myself. I was singing at the top of my lungs. I began to sing the song For What Ever it Takes to Draw Closer to Thee, That's What I'll be Willing to do. Something inside of me told me to think about the words that I was singing so I did. It was at this time, that I realized that I did not mean what I was singing. I was did not want God to do what ever it took to draw me closer to Him. My life was a fake. I began to think back through my life and all the things that I had done against myself, others, and most importantly, God. I will further explain in other postings. Finally, God was getting ahold of my attention. I began to pray earnestly that God would do what ever it takes to make me what I should be. Then it all happened. Two days later, on January 25, 2005, my youth group went on a ski trip up to Wisconsin. At about three o' clock, I was going up the ski lift and saw a group of my friends down one of the more difficult slopes. I thought they were just resting so I did not pay any attention to them. My next ride up, they were still there and a fellow skier informed me that one of our teens was hurt. When I reached the top, one of my friends told me that it was, Mary Johnson. Yes, she was one of my good friends. I got into frantic mode. I skied about half-way down the slope and then ran the other half. When I got to the turn off, I was met by one of the emergency personnel. He told me that it was too serious and that, we could not go down there. I walked down and just watched from across some trees. This was the first time that I ever really realized that in my life, I had to and could only Trust in God. I watched for a little while. but in my shock I could only stay for a few minutes. I went down the slope, turned in my skis and prepared to leave. When I was ready to go, I got informed on Mary's condition. I only caught bits and pieces. This is what I heard. She cannot walk, talk, breathe, and her back and neck are broken. I could not believe my ears. This was the closest that death has ever been to me. I thought for sure that she would die. One of the helpers in the youth group came over, as I was staring at the mountain in unbelief, and put his arm on my shoulder. I over heard another comment that she had to be life flighted out of there. I did not belief it until, I turned around and saw a Coast Gaurd chopper flying in. It was at the point that I broke down in tears. It was the first time in a long, long time that I had cryed. The helper looked at me and told me something that I will never forget, "Jim all we can do is leave it in God's hands. He knows what he is doing." We prayed right there and asked God to spare her life. I knew what God was doing. He was doing what ever it would take to get me where I should be. I knew that was what he was doing. Thankfully, it worked. Over the next few days and weeks, I made some drastic changes in my life. My life would be changed for ever. Shortly after getting right with God, I was called into full time service. I thought that God was calling me to be a teacher so I surrendered to do it. During the next summer, we had a revival meeting that went on for about three weeks. It was during this time that I knew God wanted me to be a youth evangelist. I did not want to do this out of pure emotion so I have waited and prayed about it. He showed me in this last Preaching Conference that I am to be an evangelist. I have always kept a close eye on current events, but since that day I have looked at them differently. I have seen how wicked America actually is. I have reallized with an emphasis on the youth that the only wasy to keep this country a float is by reaching the youth.