****STAND BY FOR NEWS****

I don't know how some older people can cope with the rate of change in our world. My grandma lived for 112 years spanning 3 centuries. Finally she just didn't want to hear any more. She was sharp till the end-she'd just had enough so we talked about the present or the past.

This week held a lot of change for me. The Denver and Rocky Mountain News was always one of my favorites. It was a small conservative tabloid when I lived out there as a child. I liked it because it fit between my small arms and it was different than other papers. I also visited the paper on a school field trip. Anyway, when it became available online I started reading it again. Well, Thursday when I logged on there were only pictures of an empty newsroom with trash lying around and another of staff with tears in their eyes being told it is over.



As you can see the other thing is that Paul Harvey died today. Sometimes I loved him, sometimes I hated him. I can remember listening to him as a child while traveling or at home. I told Joel once that he was "The Oracle of the Windy City." He literally sang the news. My brother-in-law, Phil who runs a True Value Hardware store said he could sell ice cubes to Eskimos. People would flock in to buy whatever Ol' Paul was hawking that week. I don't know why but it has been routine for me to listen to him around noon time about every work day for almost 40 years. I guess I'll have to find a new obsession now.

If you wonder where he is just listen to this:

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

Paul Harvey............................good day!!

Romans 1:16-32 Why I must boldly declare the gospel

I am not ashamed of this gospel. God has powerfully used it to rescue anyone who believes starting with the Jews and now also the Greeks. This power comes first from it's revelation of God's righteousness. It was by faith at the beginning and still is now. As the scripture says, "The righteous man shall live by faith." Mankind's unrighteousness and ungodliness has brought on the wrath of God because of our continual suppression of the truth. They know all about God for He has revealed Himself among them. Clear back to the beginning this creation of His has been declaring His power, His divinity and many evident facts about God that we can't see but know are obviously true from what we see around us. They are without excuse. They knew God and instead of acknowledging the obvious and being thankful for such a God they twisted the facts into absurd speculation. The more they did this the more foolish they became. Less and less of the light of truth could filter into their hearts. They said they were wise but became fools. They had a perfect incorruptible God to worship but threw that away for corruptible worship of man, birds, animals and creepy things. Finally God cut them loose to be driven by the lusts of their unstable hearts to impurity. What followed was the disgusting degradation of their bodies. They wanted to believe the lie and ignore the truth about God. They would rather worship and serve the creature rather than their eternal blessed Creator.
So God consented to their demand to follow their destructive obsessions. Soon women stepped out and were driven outside the bounds of what they were designed for and of course men abandoned their obligation and attraction to women and burned in attraction to other men committing shameless acts and suffered the natural consequences of such error. Since they actively worked to push God out of their thoughts and heart God set their minds adrift as well . This blossomed into all kinds of impropriety: unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice, envy, murder, strife and deceit. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, braggarts, inventors of evil and rebellious children. They've lost the capacity to be sympathetic, to be trusted, to love, to have mercy. It doesn't stop there. They blatantly do these things knowing God declares death on all such activity and then encourage others to practice them as well.

Romans 1:8-15 A Common Destiny

First, I am grateful to God that through Jesus Christ everyone in the world is talking about your faith. God has made the gospel of His Son an obsession with me from the depths of my heart as well. He knows how I can’t stop thinking and praying and asking that now, at last, He might let me come to you. I want to do this because I think I might be able to impart some of His special foundational tools, but I also know you would be an encouragement to me, so there would be
much mutual benefit. I don’t want you folks to think that I haven’t planned a visit. I want glean some of this fruit God is producing in you in His great harvest of the nations. I owe this to Greeks, Barbarians, wise and foolish and I, myself am eager to fulfill this obligation to you in Rome.

First Romans Post

1:1
Greetings from me, Paul, My whole life is duty-bound to Jesus, God’s chosen one. He has ordained me to get up and go, to live my life for His shocking message, which shouldn’t be so shocking as He always promised through the prophets and Holy writings His Son would be born in the line of King David. Now, though, He has added power to this truth by raising Him from the dead. This powerful act of His Holy Spirit leaves no doubt: God has chosen Jesus to redeem and rule mankind. Jesus has abundantly equipped us with everything we need to deploy and bring this gift of faith resulting in allegiance to His lordship throughout all the nations bringing them under His authority and protection. Jesus has called you to this realignment as well.

I am writing this to all of God’s beloved elite people in Rome. God has declared peace on you and showered you with all the spoils of the victory of our Lord, Jesus His Anointed One.

What Are Blogs For?

It's been a long time since I've posted. I guess I blame Christmas and taxes and preparing for a new year. Anyway, one of my reasons for doing this was always to post things I think I am learning.

One way to study the Bible is with pen in hand. I often do this in order to make myself regurgitate what I am learning. Otherwise it goes in my eyes and drifts off into an empty void between my ears. I was reading one of the epistles and suddenly realized, "Hey, this is supposed to be a letter. Why not re-write it as one and see it as what it was originally and not what it is to us, a book in the Bible." Anyway that is my project with Romans. Now, I am not claiming this as a translation or even a paraphrase but more as a personal application of the information. I am aware of the danger of speculation. I don't want to do that but I have gained some helpful insights on some hard passages. If you are willing you can read these and discuss, correct and warn me when I'm getting off-base. Maybe you can tell me how to word it better.