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I've MOVED!!
YOU CAN FIND ME AT:
MY NEW BLOG: LEGIT LOVE, SEE YOU THERE
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Saturday, March 31, 2012

House Hunters International: An Island In The Sun


            House Hunters International features home buyers searching for the right property in another country.  It lets me get a peak at gorgeous tropical locations with their private beaches and Brazilian wood balconies overlooking lush mountains and frolicking monkeys.  The tropics make me sigh with the relaxation that you most feel when you are there.  Paradise. 
             I love to watch shows that highlight beautiful locations.  LOST and Hawaii Five-0 give amazing Hawaiian scenery every chance they get.  Ahhh, Hawaii.  I love to look at it and I love the idea of it.  It's gorgeous!  Sunny and green, covered with lush plants and flowers, surrounded by lovely white sand beaches and the sparkling aqua of the ocean.
             I love the idea of the vacation spot.  I read Islands Magazine and decorate my walls with pictures of beautiful places.  I daydream about retiring to a life of leisure and freedom.  But the truth is, while tropical locations are gorgeous and wonderful and filled with things to enjoy; problems still exist there.  Time still exists there.  Money and crime and noise still exist there.  The weather isn't always calendar worthy and the people are not always friendly.  I still want to go, of course, but a vacation spot is not actually Paradise.   
             Heaven is, though.  Heaven is a real place.  More beautiful than all the wonders of this earth.  More relaxing than I can understand.  More...right than I've ever experienced.  And I'm retiring there someday.  Are you?
             The Bible describes Heaven as a golden city filled with God's presence and everything good (Revelation 21).  An existence of only happiness, safety and belonging- FOREVER! 
             “Look, God’s home is now among His people!  He will live with them, and they will be His people.  God Himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”  Revelation 21:3b-4
             But Heaven is only for those God has forgiven for the wrongs they have done.  And to be forgiven you have to ask.  Jesus died in our place, taking our punishment from God as our substitute and then rose from the dead to prove we can be forgiven and go to Heaven someday.

"God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."
                                                       1 John 4:9-10

          The Bible says we don't deserve this.  We don't deserve Heaven.  But God loves us and wants us to be with Him.  All we have to do is ask.
         
           "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  Romans 10:9

             Tell Jesus you need Him!  He can hear you wherever you are.  Ask Him to forgive your sins.
             When Jesus was on the cross, the criminal dying next to Him put his faith in Jesus.  Jesus assured him, "today you will be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)  When God decides it's time, I'll be with Him in Paradise too.  I'm "retiring" there.  Until then, I'll daydream about it. 

Song Recommendation:  An Island In The Sun by Weezer
(This song is on the first Smallville soundtrack and gave me the idea for this article)

 "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.' " John 14:6

Monday, March 19, 2012

Mr. Monk Never Forgets



     Monk is a quirky, lovable show about obsessive-compulsive detective, Adrian Monk.  The show ended after eight seasons but lives on through a series of very fun novels.  Mr. Monk was a successful homicide detective until his wife's murder caused him to suffer a psychological breakdown.  Now he assists the San Fransisco Police Department on the most difficult cases as a private consultant.  He uses his need for order and his obsession with perfection to see the details that the average investigator would miss.  Monk catches the bad guys that no one else would ever catch.  
But he couldn't do it without Natalie.  Natalie is Mr. Monk's plucky assistant.  Her job is to keep him calm and focused, hand him disinfectant wipes and run interference with the people he ultimately frustrates.  They get into and out of a lot of scrapes together and have saved each other's lives more than once.
         
         One of the things that makes Monk so unique and so good at solving crimes is his memory.  It's perfect.  Once during a session with his therapist, he recounts a traumatic memory and his therapist realizes that Mr. Monk is actually remembering his own birth!
          Even though there are probably no real people who have a perfect memory like this, God does.  Psalm 147:5 says, "Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite."  God knows everything.  Acts 15:18 says, "Known to God from eternity are all His works."  He knew every moment of human history before time ever began.  He knows everything that has ever happened or will ever happen to everyone. 
         God knows us, He really KNOWS us.  He knows everything we've ever done, including all the bad things.  He says in the Bible that we deserve His punishment. (Romans 6:23) 
         Now listen to something amazing - "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."  -Romans 5:8 
          He sent Jesus to take the punishment that we deserve.  When we accept that we deserve God's punishment, when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are forgiven.  All of our mistakes and bad deeds and bad thoughts are washed away.  Forever.  And He continues to forgive us when we slip up because now we have Jesus as our Advocate.  (1 John 2:1) 
        God, the only One with the flawless memory, chooses to forget.  For our sake.  Just because He loves us. 
        Here is what God's forgiveness is like:  Hebrews 8:12  "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”