I am almost sure that I will irritate a few people with this post, but so be it.  Wrecked.org posted an article a few days ago about the Pledge of Allegiance.  It is an article with which I wholeheartedly agree.  You can read the whole thing here.

To sum it up, the author writes that pledging our allegiance to anything other than God while in church is equivalent to idolatry.  That it IS idolatry.  He does not call for Christians to stop saying the plege all together, just in church where our focus and allegiance should to God and God alone.  

However, I do take it to that next step.  My allegiance needs to be to God, and no other, all the time.  Not just while at church.  I choose to exercise my freedoms as an American and refrain from saying the pledge of allegiance in most cases.  Certainly not in all cases, though I must admit that I have yet to find a case where I have chosen to say it since making the decision, but I might someday.  *Shrug*

Now, before you get all crazy: No, I do not hate America.  No, I do not hate soldiers.  No, I do not hate freedom.  Yes, I realize that those freedoms came at a price.  In past generations, several members of my family have served in the military.  I was about 15 minutes from enlisting after high school, myself.  I appreciate their sacrifice.

But we have to remember that, while patriotism is fine, America is not our kingdom.  As Christians we belong to one kingdom: the kingdom of God.

And yes, I realize that it might seem hypocritical to refrain from pledging my allegiance to the flag for this reason while my everyday actions show that I am obviously placing my allegiances elsewhere.  Yes, I sin.  Yes, I put things before God all the time.  But this particular action is an obvious, and I think blatant, one that can be remedied quickly and relatively painlessly.

Now, please do not think that I am telling you to quit saying the pledge of allegiance.  I am merely asking that, if you do, remember to whom you belong and where your allegiance really lies.  May God bless America now and until His Son returns.

Raise your hand if you just love doing what other people tell you to do.

Anybody?  Yeah, didn’t think so.

It seems to me that an aversion to obedience is a universal trait among members of the human race.  I think it is because every time we are required to do something it reminds us of the fact that we are never in complete control of our own lives.  We always have to answer to somebody.  Obey your parents.  Obey the law.  Obey the Lord your God.

Yeah, even that one grates on me at times.  Don’t get me wrong.  I know we should have a desire to follow His commandments in an effort to become more like Christ, our Savior.  But, man, obedience tends to cramp my fleshly style; I don’t like it one bit.

The reality is, though, that being obedient keeps us safe.  Look at verse 13 up there again: Moses reaffirms the fact that keeping God’s commands is for our own good.  God knows that without guidelines we would be in a world of hurt.

Succumbing to the desires of the flesh can seriously put a damper on the joy that God wants us to have in our hearts.  Covetousness leads to a life of constant depression.  Being unequally yoked will most likely put unnecessary strain on your relationship.  Lying will most definitely lead to a miserable existence of guilt and secrecy.  That is no way to live.

The good thing is that once we learn to get past those pesky temptations, God can bless us in ways that we could never imagine.  As you go through this week, remember that obedience does not lead to limitation.  Being obedient provides us with a way to live a life that is relatively free of joy-robbing experiences and misery.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. – Colossians 2:6-7

 A reader posted a new comment to my article Dealing with Past Transgressions the other day, and I found myself rereading it as I approved the comment. Let me tell you, reading that article could not have come at a more applicable time.

Suffice it to say, that I am very thankful for God’s unending supply of forgiveness. The beginning of last week was quite tumultuous, for lack of a better word. No, tumultuous is an accurate adjective in this case, so I will leave that word. 

Without going into too much detail (ok, no detail at all), some things came out about my past and it put a strain on a relationship that I value dearly.  Man, does Satan know how to work me over, or what?  He knows exactly what I consider to be valuable and has no qualms about beating them to a pulp. Thankfully, the other person and I are able to talk about it and are in the process of moving through it (though, I know that it will be a process, not an instant fix). 

But, how true is that verse of Psalm 32! I am certainly not proud of what happened, but I know, without any hint of doubt, that my Father has forgiven me for the sin because I confessed it to Him with a repentant heart.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9

And look at the last part of that verse! Not only does He forgive me, but also cleanses me! I do not have to stress about it anymore. The sacrifice of Christ has allowed me to be free from all iniquity. Of course, this does not give me some James Bond-esque “license to sin.” However, it does allow me the peace of mind to know that those sins that I have committed and those that I am going to commit can and will be forgiven and washed away forever.   

How happy am I whose transgression is forgiven, indeed!

Well, 2008 is rapidly coming to a close.  Christmas is just over a week away and New Year’s will follow quickly in a flurry of parties and fireworks.  The end of the year is always a time to reflect upon the last year;  it is a time to take stock of successes and failures, lessons learned, and times of personal growth.

2008 was a big year for me.  I “officially” graduated from college (long story), started attending a great local church and quickly became the Sunday School teacher for the Single 20s!  What else?  Oh yeah, I started Life Outside the Lines, obviously, and have begun notes for at least 2 books that should be in the works very soon.  Man, I am exhausted just writing about this past year.

The end of the year is also a time to look forward.  Many people like to make “resolutions” to lose weight, learn a new language, make more money or whatever.  While I agree that using the changing of the calendar as a “fresh start” is a great thing, resolutions just do not cut it for me.  I would be willing to bet that at least half of the resolutions set for the New Year are given up upon by the following March (I am guilty of this, for sure).  Resolutions are just too vague.  This year, I am going to set goals.

The most difficult part of goal-setting, I find, is to achieve a balance between definitive goals and those goals that are kind of further away, those may or may not get achieved.  Dustin Wax over at one of my favorite blogs, Lifehack.org, wrote a couple of articles detailing the difference between the two types, what he calls S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) and D.U.M.B. (Dangerously Unattainable, Monstrously Big) goals.  I think it is very important to have smart goals: they are easy to break down into micro-goals and measure in a timely way to provide the psychological motivation necessary to keep striving to complete them.  But I also know the value of setting goals that are so ridiculously big that you have no choice but to reach way outside of your limits and place all of your trust in God to have any hope of achieving them.

So, here are a couple of the goals I have set for 2009, in no particular order:

• Remain at current weight, but get body fat percentage to less than 18%.  That will require me to drop a bit of fat and gain some muscle.  This goal is easily measured and achievable, but it will require dedication past February, which will be the hard part for me.
• Pay off all debts.  Credit Card sits at about $4700 and Student Loans are hovering a just over $13,000.  So I currently owe people right at $18,000.  I have already started to take positive steps to achieve this goal: I have a written budget and recently signed up for an online spending tracker, Mint.  If you have never heard of this application, go check it out right now.  It is a completely free and useful tool to help you get your financial life back on track.
• Increase income by at least 50%.  That should not be very difficult at all if I can just land a decent full-time position somewhere.  If I stayed at UPS for a while after attaining FT work, I could easily increase my income by 150% for a while and goal #2 would be a breeze.
• Finish the manuscript for my serious book.  The one I started for NaNoWriMo was kind of a joke, I never really intended to pursue it past a first edit.  The story that I truly want to develop has not seen much paper, save for a few notes here and there.  10 pages per week is more than enough to get a novel-length piece of literature penned in a little less than a year.
• Write 3 well-written articles per week for Life Outside the Lines.  This one will just require some discipline to write and time to read for ideas.  The way to increase the readership of a blog is to provide regular, valuable information to the readers.  Achieving this goal should make possible the next:
• Bring the readership of Life Outside the Lines to over 1K.  Google Analytics says I have 145 or so subscribers right now, so I need about 800 more subscribers and regular readers.
• Spend at least 15 hours per week doing biblical research/study.  That might include taking an online class from a Christian University somewhere.  Or it may just be increasing my devotional time and setting to a more deep level.

Wow, that’s a bigger list than I thought.  But you know what?  I can do it.  I can do each and every one of the things on that list.  I have a vested interest in seeing every one of those happen and God promises that I can do all things through His Son (Philippians 4:13).  If it is the Lord’s will that these things happen in my life this year, then nothing can stop me if I put in the effort.  OK, I am ready to see 2009, bring it on!

What goals do you have planned for 2009?  I would love to hear about them in the comments section.

I had a rough day yesterday.  Nothing particularly terrible happened; it was a fairly normal day, in fact.  Wake up.  Breakfast.  Sit down to write.  Delete everything I just wrote.  Try again.  Fail.  Go to work.   Yeah, pretty normal.   I don’t know what it was.  Less than a month ago I missed an entire night’s sleep because I could not praise and thank God enough.   Yesterday I wanted to throw every last possession through my window and yell, “There! Everything else is gone, Lord, and I am ready to follow! Just lead me somewhere!” And I heard nothing.

Answer me quickly, LORD, my spirit fails.  Don’t hide your face from me, or I will be like those going down into the Pit.  Let me experience Your faithful love in the morning, for I trust in You.  Reveal to me the way I should go, because I long for You. — Psalms 143:7-8

I think I just felt alone yesterday.  I guess I have felt that way for a couple of days now.  Have you ever been in that place where you just feel cut off from the rest of the world?  Even when you have seen most everyone within the last week?  That is exactly where I am right now.  Communication has not ceased, but I feel like connection has.

I wish it were only people from whom I feel disconnected.  If I could hear God speaking to me, telling me that He still loves me even when I’m alone, I think I would be fine.   But I cannot even hear that.  I feel just like David in the end of Psalm 42: I will say to God, my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?  Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”…Why am I so depressed?  Why is this turmoil within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God. (vs. 9,11).

I realize that a good portion of this is my fault.  I have not initiated communication (both worldly and spiritually) like I should be.  If I want to make a connection, I am going to have to take the first step, I get it.   But it just feels so good to have other people desire to connect with me, you know?  In fact, one of the highlights of my day yesterday was a good friend writing on my Facebook wall.  Nothing deep, just saying hi, but it brought a really big smile to my face.  So thanks to her!  I know that everyone is busy, especially this time of year, so I am going to make more of an effort to let the people I care about know that they are special to me.  Not quite the same as having them tell me, but at least it will spark some dialogue, which will do for now.

I wish I had an inspirational verse to close this with, but in truth, they are still ringing hollow in my ears.  Even the last few lines of Psalm 42, which I quoted earlier, only provides a little bit of comfort.  I know that God has not abandoned me, but I still feel disconnected.  I will do the only thing that I know to do, because I know that it will work no matter how far off it seems, and that is to continue to seek the presence of God.

I know that each of you has felt like this before. What do you guys do when you feel alone and disconnected? Do you have any particular Scripture that you like to read? Any special tips for staying connected through the chaos of the holidays?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

I am going to let you in on a little secret: God loves you.  I’m serious; I know that I (and I imagine that a lot of people) tend to forget that sometimes, especially when I have not been on my best “Christian behavior.”

All of us who breathe regularly are in a constant struggle with sin.  The guilt and shame associated with that can really bring us down.  The feeling of unworthiness can be a spirit-crusher that makes us want to give up completely.  That is part of our nature as humans; we do it all the time.  How often do we give up on a diet (that we are going to follow this time if it kills us!) after we eat that extra piece of cake at the birthday party?  We are quitters.  But guess what? God isn’t like us…He doesn’t give up.

Take a look at Paul.  Now here is a guy that was in no way, shape, or form worthy of God’s love.  I have done my share of sinning, but my professional résumé has never included “hunting down and killing Christians” or “holding the coats of Pharisees while they stone deacons.”  Paul’s did; he struggles with his past on a regular basis just like we do.  In Philippians 3 he talks about “forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead” (v. 13).  Man, did he have a lot of stuff to forget!  But, he also gives us a word of encouragement about our sin later in his letter to the Colossians.  In Chapter 1, verses 21-22 he writes, “And you were once alienated and hostile in mind because of your evil actions.  But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.”

Holy, faultless, and blameless…those are powerful adjectives.  All of those feelings of guilt and shame that we hold because of sin are completely negated because Christ came and offered Himself as a propitiation for our sins.  We can “approach the throne of grace with boldness” because God has reconciled us through His Son (Hebrews 4:16).  God’s love for us in unwavering.  Nothing can pluck us form His hand.

“Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate Lord. — Isaiah 54:10

However, it seems that I caught a little bit of spirit today.  It was not Christmas spirit (sorry, mom) but rather the spirit of the less-tinselly holiday of the season: Thanksgiving.  I am not entirely sure what sparked it, but at about 1AM this morning a feeling of thanks just descended upon me as I sat in front of my computer.  And it has not left me all day.  I have found myself thanking God for everything that even comes into my field of vision, and it has been wonderful.

“Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High.”  Psalms 50:14

Gratitude is a funny thing.  As I thanked God today for everything from turtles to dirt to protecting me as I was pulling electrical wires, I noticed that I really had no room for negative feelings.  I have been quite stressed and anxious about a couple of things (mostly my distinct lack of full-time employment) for the past few months and, for the first time that I can recall, I was not even thinking about them today.  I just did not have time to worry about those little things; I had to give thanks for all that He has given me!

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   Philippians 4:6-7

Today has been wonderful.  My prayer is that this overwhelming gratitude will not depart from my spirit.  I realize that God has blessed me beyond all human measure and that He will continue to send those blessings my way simply because He loves me.  My God, thank you for not abandoning me during a time of despair.  Thank you for taking care of every need in the way that you see fit.  Thank You for loving me as one of your children.  But most of all, thank you for loving me enough to send your Son so that, one day, I can say “Thank You” to your face.