Descrimination or persecution and to whom?

I had a rather eye opening discussion with two of the clerks at the division where I work, yesterday, while they were out for a smoke break and I was waiting for my bus. They were telling me of their frustration that morning of having 22 crews to fill and no drivers to fill them., especially when there was a termination of overtime. Apparently out of absolute necessity that ban was lifted, and they were eventually, after a hair raising ( I wouldn't know about that) few hours were able to fill the empty crews. Then they started to tell me of their frustration with all the new drivers coming on board, 99.9% of which are visible minorities, and how they absolutely have no work ethics. They are constantly late for work, take time off when ever they feel like it and are belligerent towards any kind of authority. They simply don't care and nothing seems to be done about it. It makes it very hard for a clerk who is responsible for all those kinds of things to do their job. Then the one clerk, who has over 20 years on the job said to me " Doug, if you are white, male and a Christian, you are (and I quote): " F#@*^&"( with a capital "F"). Interesting he added that last characteristic. Then he said, " if you are a Seventh Day Adventist, Muslim or some other religion, you get all your "religious days off" and the company supports this. If you are a Christian you get ZIP. What do you think of that? This is happening now, and very close to home, I might add.

Then on the way home in the car, I hear that Denmark, is in the process of enacting a law that would ban circumcision on infants. What effect do you think that will have on out Jewish friends?

Then when I get home, on the TV NEWS at 11, there is a discussion between a Christian minister and a Gay activist, whereby the Gay activists are actively pursuing in the courts a law that would prevent any religious organization from discriminating against sexual preferences. That would make it illegal for a Christian minister to preach from his or her pulpit from the bible, that homosexuality, or other forms of sexual behavior, is a sin and people should not engage in such activity. What do you think of that?

LISTEN CHRISTIANS ! WE BETTER START SPEAKING UP OR WE ARE GOING TO LOOSE OUR BATTLE FOR OUR RIGHTS!! NO MORE MR./MRS. TOLERANT NICE GUY! WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS?

THE SQUEAKY WHEEL IS GETTING THE GREASE AND IT'S NOT CHRISTIANS!

WE NEED MORE THAN JUST PRAYER, IT'S TIME TO SPEAK THE TRUTH AND TO ACT!

DOES THIS DISTURB ANY OF YOU LIKE IT DOES ME?

That leads me to my next post: " What In The World Is Going On"

In Your Head

This is a daily devotion taken from " Our Daily Bread", October 28, written by Joe Stowell. I liked it so much I wanted to share it.

Read: Galatians 1:6-9


I love the prayer that begins, " God be in my head." When I first heard it, admittedly I thought it sounded a little weird. But then I got to thinking how unfortunate it is if in our efforts to get closer to Jesus we focus on our emotional experience of Him and check our brains at the door. Without his truth ringing in our heads, we're bound to get off track.
Just look at the early Christians, False teachers filled their heads with misinformation, saying that salvation and spiritual growth could be attained only through keeping the requirements of the law. When Paul heard of it, he was astonished at how quickly they had gotten off track: " I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ" ( Gal. 1:6)
It's not just false teachers who lead us astray. Our world is full of twisted thinking like, " if it feels good, do it," or " The one with the most toys wins." Let's face it, you and I can't afford to check our brains at the door. In fact, intimacy with Jesus begins with getting to know him, and it's the facts about him that make us want to get close to him.
So, strange as it may sound, if you want to stay on track with Jesus, start each day by asking him to be in your head!



God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking.- Sarum Primer

TO STAY ON TRACK, LET GOD GUIDE YOUR THINKING.

The Funny Drunk

I have this guy that comes on my bus. He is usually three sheets to the wind and can hardly stand up. He stands beside me and tells one joke after another. Some of them are funny, some dirty, actually most of them dirty, so I'm not going to repeat those, but I did remember a couple of them, maybe because they were dog jokes, and I love dogs. I know from my counselling training, that he is hiding his insecurity behind the humour. My guess is he had an abusive parent, probably his father, who probably was also an alcoholic and whom he could never please or receive any kind of encouragement or affection from. In my spirit I discerned he is starving for someone to say to him; " You're going to be OK and I love you son". It's amazing the change that a few words like that could do to a man like this. I'm on this route for a few more weeks so I'm hoping for a God appointment to do or say something significant in this mans life.
Here's a couple of jokes I can share:

1. What do you call a dog with no legs?
Answer: It doesn't matter, he can't come anyway! Come on now, that was funny!

2. What do you call a dog with two front legs and two wheels on his rear end?
Answer: Sparky! hahahaha!

That's all I can remember for now!

Here we go again!

I'm feeling that need for a fix again! I need another dose of Ariana. Hopefully, we can see her for a few minutes this Sunday. I also need some more favorite pictures. This is one of my favorites. Not because of me, cause I hate my picture, but because of the good memory of spending some quality time with my granddaughter. Next Sunday she gets dedicated and we will get together with the whole family. I'm so thankful her parents are bringing her up to know the Lord. That is a generational blessing that will be passed down to future generations. She has three grampas and three grandmas. Figure that one out!

We're having 20 baptisms at our church this Sunday. That will be exciting. Every week we have attended somebody new has given their life to the Lord. I loved what Pastor Alan said a few weeks ago. " It's not about the building and it's not about the programs, it's about helping each individual become mature in Christ." That is what church is supposed to do. Take new converts and disciple them to maturity so they in turn can effectively impact their world with the love of Jesus and produce more good fruit. That can only come from good teaching of the word of God. We need to be able to digest the "meat" of scripture rather than just be satisfied with "milk" like a baby does. About three weeks ago, about 800 people came forward in response to Pastor John's call to join him in his dream of reaching the City for Jesus. I believe it's going to happen. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for this City. Revival is on the horizon. But, it starts in us first. My life seems to be a series of new beginnings. I like change. It's refreshing and challenging. Isn't life grand? For me it's grandpa! lol

NEW CONTRACT

Well, after six months of arbitration, a plethora of meetings eating up tens of thousands of dollars in wages and expenses, we finally have a contract. It is almost identical to the one we were offered and that we turned down. I personally didn't turn it down, because under our current economic circumstances, I thought it was pretty good. A reasonable wage increase of 9% over 3 years and an increase in our benefits. How can you beat that? I am very thankful I have such a good secure job, that I love doing. We really are taken care of and I believe properly compensated for our work. I feel bad for those in the auto industry that are facing lay offs and termination of employment. I hope they are able to be placed in other jobs or get retrained for something else. If not, we are all going to feel the consequences . The benefits alone, I figure, must be worth at least $10/hr over and above our hourly rate.
The big debate now is should we be made an essential service. I think we all know the real answer to that, even though City counsel voted down ( lost by one vote) approaching the province to ask them for it. I think the fact we were ordered back to work only 1 1/2 days after going on a legal strike, says it all. WE ARE an essential service, or they would not have done that. The reason they are hesitating to make it official, is traditionally, it will cost them much more money to run the service, which they are trying to avoid like the plague. I guess you can't blame them really. It is costing more than they have funding for now. Why should they, when we will just get ordered back to work every time we go on strike. It kind of makes striking redundant. That's OK with me, since I think striking is counter productive in this day and age when we have arbitration already available to us through the current system. I am happy with the outcome.
I'm praying for those men and women who's jobs are in jeopardy, while being very thankful for mine.
One day, the economies of the world are going to fail. That has been prophesied. Those unbelievers who have not been reunited with Jesus in the rapture will be subject to the dictates of a Satan possessed world leader.
That is why my faith is in Christ and not in the security of a job or in a government which are sure to failure.
Ephesians 2: 8-9. " For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."
That is the message I desire to deliver today.
Will you join me and have real security for life?

Have you seen an angel lately?

Hebrews 13:2 " Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

Kim asked on her blog if babies could see angels. I think they can. Babies, because of the nature of their condition, have no fear, no prejudices, and have the innocence that produces faith. They haven't learned these things yet, so doubt is not part of their conscious thinking. In fact, I'm not sure they even have the ability to think. They just accept whatever comes their way, because they don't have much other choice. They can't make decisions. So I think God, in his wisdom, places a special protection around babies. Even if something bad should happen and they die, I think he takes them straight to heaven. Kim's blog got me thinking of my own experiences. I believe I have seen angels on about 5 different occasions, the most recent being 3 nights ago. How do I know for sure? Well, who can be absolutely certain, unless of course they introduce themselves as such and prove it somehow. I just believe they were. Why? Because they seemed to me to be out of character for the surroundings that I was very familiar with, they would look straight at me, give an approving sort of hand gesture and when I looked back to see where they had gone, they had disappeared never to be seen again, that's why. I just knew in my knower, that it was an angel. It left me with a sense of satisfaction as if God was saying " everything is OK, I see what you are doing and I approve of you." That was a comforting feeling. Not spooky or unusual in some way. That seems to me to be like in God's nature to leave someone feeling that kind of comfort from a mere sighting of what looked like just another human being. They look and I might add, feel just like we do. How do I know that? I had the opportunity to shake ones hand the other night. You see after thinking about Kim's blog post, I said to God; " I haven't seen an angel for a while Lord. I think it's time for another sighting." Guess what, that night I saw another angel. It took me totally by surprise. He looked like a derelict. I was doing the Royal York North route which is a very high class route. I don't think there is a house under $1,000,000 on the first part of the route and there are several that would exceed the $5,000,000 range. I've been doing this route quite often for the past 10 years and this guy was out of character to be seen on this route. I thought he was drunk at first, because he was being very loud and rather overly friendly with all the other passengers. It was a very busy day and I was a bit stressed out. I didn't feel like handling a drunk. My fear is I would get angry with him and do some damage if I lost my cool. I do not like doing that. Before leaving the station I said a little prayer; " Lord I don't feel like dealing with this guy, please give me the patience or get him off my bus". We left the station on time. About 5 minutes after departing, the guy comes up to me and asks; " are you going to Lakeshore?" I said; " No, that is in the other direction you need to get off this bus and get the one going the other way back to the station and take the 76 south." Another passenger hearing his question told him the same thing. As he stood beside me, he looked right into my eyes. I realized at this point he was not drunk. He didn't smell of alcohol, and believe me I know when somebody has been drinking, and his eyes were as clear as could be. No signs of inebriation of any kind. Before he exited at the stop he said to me; " who is your best friend?"
I hesitated for a moment, because I knew my answer, but I was conscious of the passengers on the bus. We don't usually express our faith at work unless specifically asked about it, which rarely happens. As public service we normally remain opinionless and neutral on these matters unless , as I said, if pressed I would not deny my faith. In this case, I needed to give my honest answer. I said;" JE". I no sooner got the first syllables out of my mouth, when he , at the exact precise moment said the same thing, just as if we had practised this in harmony for hours,
" J E S U S ! " I knew at that moment, this was no derelict. He smiled, stepped off the bus, turned and gave me that tell tale hand gesture, this time a thumbs up! In the past it was a salute. I knew, that I knew, that I knew this was no man, it was an angel sent by God to give me that comforting feeling and sense of approval. He disappeared, and I did not see him again. God had answered my prayer from earlier that morning. I had another encounter with an angel. The closest one I have ever had. So be alert. You may entertain an angel without knowing it. He may not look or act like you expected either. Be nice to what appear to be street people! There might just be an angel among them. I had the privilege of knowing.
Want to see an angel? Just ask God for the opportunity, watch, and believe. He may answer your prayer! Thank you Lord!