It’s a simple thing, transformation. It’s not complicated. It doesn’t require men and women to become super geniuses and strategists. Shady Grove Church moved to its new location at the beginning of June. I have noticed that this is a season of community building. Families far and wide are moving closer to the new building to participate in the growing community of Shady Grove. God has plans and purposes beyond our ability to track. Highway 161 is being extended from Hwy 183 (Airport Freeway) to Interstate 20. That means freeway access running through the heart of Grand Prairie. It means a freeway exit will be located beside the new Shady Grove building. It means new commerce will emerge to surround some of the freeways entrances and exits.

There is something prophetic about the building of this highway. Something about building a new path for life to flow through this old and pathetic city. South Grand Prairie has been thriving, but the rest of the city has been left to rot for decades. But change is coming. Change is happening. City planners are excited. City officials are invigorated by the promise of growth, renovation, and rebirth. Given twenty or thirty years, Grand Prairie could be a nearly unrecognizable place to live and do business. That is only considering the physical changes on the horizon.

What about spiritual changes? What is happening in this town? The leaders of dozens of churches in the city are crying out to the Lord to bring a revival and a display of His glory to this area. They are praying and interceding for the unsaved, for those who do not know Jesus. Divine strategies and actions are in place that neither you nor I recognize. You can be certain, however, that God has marked Grand Prairie. It is the center of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, after all. We’ll track the changes and keep you informed.

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It seems that Israel cannot be mentioned without some comment about conflict or war. To many poorly educated people, this fact seems proof of Israel’s fault. After all, one country with so many enemies cannot be in the right, can it? I am not Jewish, but I respect and honor the Jewish people. And no, the conflict does not prove Zionism or any other far-fetched scheme. It boils down to religious differences that stem from a family feud. Arabs tend to hate Jews and Jews tend to look down on Arabs. This is where Biblical history plays an important role.

There are no Arab manuscripts that date as old or older than Judaic manuscripts. The Muslim faith came into being centuries after Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead. Muslim revisionist history came into play afterward to combat the claims of one branch of the Middle Eastern family. Thousands of years before Christ, Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was firstborn to Abraham, but Isaac was the firstborn through Abraham’s actual wife, Sarah. That Ishmael was born at all was the result of a lack of faith and trust in God’s word by Abraham and Sarah. They tried to help God out by having Abraham sleep with a maid. God had promised to give Abraham a land. God promised to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the sands of seashor and the stars in the night sky. Sarah was barren, and they saw no way for God’s promises to come true. And although Ishmael was born out of wedlock, I believe God has a special love for Ishmael and his descendants (Arabs).

Sadly, Ishmael and his mother were cast out of the family, left to survive in the desert. God spared their lives and made them prosper, but the family wounds never healed. Brother against brother, for thousands of years. One received the promised inheritance - a beautiful land now encompassing both Israel and Palestine. The other was left to fend for himself. One possesses the holy city of Jerusalem. The other will stop at nothing to take it away. There is nothing more dangerous than sibling rivalry. Both clamor to convince the world of their right to the holy land (the land of their forefather Abraham’s inheritance). But all historical evidence points to Israel’s sovereign right to the land. I do not say that spitefully. I regret that Ishmael was cast away.

But in that part of the world and in that time, the father was king of the family. His word was law. It was the Romans who drove the Jewish people out of Israel in the first century A.D. It has been called the Diaspora (dispersion). Nearly 1900 years later, Israel officially reclaimed its land and became recognized as a sovereign nation. In the meantime, all the surrounding Arab nations have thousands of years of wounds, malice, and vengeance left unhealed. Little bitty Israel has stood firm despite the hatred of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and more. True, Israel has had the support of the United States of America, but not much else. One little country in the middle of a hornets’ nest of violence. Yet they have a supernatural protection.

A nation of their size in their situation should have been wiped off the map within a couple years. Yet they stand. Before you follow the liberal bandwagon and criticize Israel, take the initiative to do an independent study of the events leading up to today’s war and find out for yourself why everyone but America seems to hate Israel. Sometimes, the majority is proof of logic and sound reasoning. Other times, it is the majority that has weak character and follows the crowd of popular opinion. It is in those moments you must take your responsibility seriously to know who you listen to and what you believe. Israel occupies such a small sliver of the Middle East, yet militant Muslims will fight to the death to take it back.

Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia each contain so much more land that you could fit dozens of Israels inside them, if not more. So why do they argue and go to war? Is the land itself holy? Do they really hate Jews? Who does the land belong to? These are the right questions.

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It occurred to me that a few of you out there might be wondering why the posts have slowed down to a crawl. Call it life, call it fortune or misfortune, whatever you like. God has taken me in a different direction at this point. I still love to write and will continue to do so as I am able, but writing has recently moved down the priority chain (similar to the food chain - only different). I took a position as a personal assistant to a real estate investor. He has since placed me in the position of property manager, and I now operate Renaissance Property Management. The paranoid side of me says not to mention names of associated businesses, but that’s only because I really do believe that “they” are out to get me. Decide for yourself whether you think I’m joking.

So for now, I manage a growing number of rental properties in the Dallas/Fort Worth area - mostly single family units and duplexes. Writing for pay hasn’t turned out to be what I hoped for. Of course, the work I have done was more for the money than for the sheer joy of writing. I am an independent thinker, preferring to work with a sense of ownership in the ideas and structure of an enterprise. Copywriting for ads and marketing pays bills (when work is available), but it doesn’t allow me to express myself in the ways I would like. Perhaps it’s all about timing. I’m not a naysayer. If you want to pursue writing as a career, go for it. I may still write for a living in the future. Flexibility is a must in this day and age.

You have to go with what works and with what the Lord leads you into. If you look in Scripture, you’ll find all sorts of stories about people who took what seemed the ass backwards route to fulfilling their purpose in life. I’ve heard many people say that God is more concerned about developing our character along the way than He is about our arriving at some life destination. It doesn’t have to all make sense. We make our plans and goals for the future. But then we stay submitted to the Lord and allow Him to order our steps. He can change our plans, but He places those desires in our hearts to use God-given skills in significant ways. Since He is the originator of those desires, He will be faithful to see them expressed in and through our lives.

I start sounding a little preachy at times, don’t I? Oh well. It’s a blog. After seeing the drivel that some people are willing to read, I don’t feel that bad. That’s another thing: While I was using this blog as an introduction to my writing business, I felt restrained from freely expressing all of my thoughts and ideas. Some separation between business and personal can be useful. Especially when potential clients can’t imagine me writing successful marketing copy because I am inquisitive, philosophical, and Christian. Oh well. It’s all good. I am walking through the doors God opens. I’d love to hear from you. Keep hope alive.

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It occurred to me the other day that I wear different styles of clothing to church based upon my expectation of the service. When I first accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior ten years ago, I began attending church in a t-shirt and jeans because they were all that I owned. I found that I could engage more completely in worship because I had no expectations of being viewed by other people as cool or attractive. I was able to leave my self image at home and participate with total focus.

As I should have expected, that reality did not last very long. I inevitably gained more clothing through birthday gifts and sheer necessity, and Sunday morning church became an opportunity to attract the opposite sex. Honestly, if one is to look for a partner, there is no better place to look than one’s own church or university (as applicable). But the simple truth is that the moment I dressed in nice clothes for church, I knew I would get more attention from people. I expected more attention. I could no longer worship at the front of the sanctuary because I was sure that I was being watched and I worried too much how I looked - if my hair was in place, my shirt tucked nicely and unwrinkled, etc. Even after marriage, self image wasn’t automatically thrown out the window.

Image consciousness morphs a little to make sense (hence the soccer mom image in the nice SUV). We no longer try to send out the message to the opposite sex that we are both available and desirable, but there is still something within us that wants our peers to know we are living a good life. We want their respect for our lifestyle choices and even their admiration for our tastes in fashion, architecture, art, decor, and music. The question remains: What is your primary purpose for attending services? Is it to mingle? Is it to walk the runway? Is it to worship?

There will always be exceptions to every rule. While this is true, most people will always be self conscious in public if they spend too much time and attention preparing their clothes, hair, makeup, etc. No one wants to spend a lot of time getting ready only to have their hair flop over or stick up, or to have their shirt bunch up at the sides. We want what we took the time to make right to stay right. Unfortunately, that means we often are too distracted to participate in corporate worship. How can we really focus on the majesty of God when Guy X or Girl Z two rows back may be wondering why we chose this outfit? I’ve found that for me personally, it’s best to go au naturale… No, not without clothes. I just go to church wearing the same normal clothes I wear each day.

It may be a little boring, but I don’t dress on Sunday to entertain. I need that corporate time in worship. I don’t have time to waste on what other people think of me, and the best way to avoid that problem is dress in such a way as to guarantee I won’t draw attention.

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