I was asked recently to share some of my thoughts on the Josh Duggar scandal. This is not intended to start an argument or become a debate. Also, this is my Facebook page so if I don’t like what you have to say I can and will censor you, so keeps it clean and civil. Also if you comment without reading what I have to say I will automatically delete your comment, to quote the ever so popular meme “ain’t nobody got time for that”. Allow me to begin by saying that Josh Duggar’s actions are deviant and disgusting. I in no way support his actions and openly condemn what he has done. The only thing he has done right has been open and honest about his massive screw ups. Which is more than most people in the public eye can say. But there are a few things I would like to point out. The first thing I think that needs to be clarified is that Josh does not represent Christianity as a whole. I know that he is a public figure that has spoken out for the sake of Christ, but his actions do not represent the rest of Christianity, if it did, we wouldn’t be talking about it. So do not assume to lump all believers in together with Josh. Secondly, while what Josh did was wrong, and shameful, why are we so quick to throw stones? In Matthew 7:5, Jesus tells us to “remove the log from our own eye, before pointing out a splinter in our neighbors.” And again in John 8:7 “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” We are so quick to point out the sin of someone else, why? Because for a moment everyone is focused on someone else, and maybe for a moment no one will notice mine. The truth is we are all carrying around a great deal of guilt and shame for the things that we have done, and when someone else screws up we quickly point fingers hoping that nobody will notice our own shame, if even for only a moment. Be careful about pointing fingers, there are always 3 more pointing back at you. Also there has been this strange article floating around that says that Anna, Josh’s wife, is uneducated because she is homeschooled, and therefore she is destitute to “the system” that she has placed herself in. I read that article and thought… wow… I am not sure that this author has done very much research on homeschooling. Most homeschool students out perform their peers in every category. Studies overwhelmingly show that homeschooling is superior to our public education system. Doubt me? Go to Google, and type in “home schooling vs. public education”. See what comes up. I will even include a graph below. For the record, I was NOT homeschooled, but at least where I grew up it was pretty common knowledge that homeschool kids were further ahead in their schooling than public education kids, and the stats back that up. Finally, I believe that Josh can be redeemed from this mess, and that God can still use him. If you look throughout the Bible, we see that the people that God uses are often the people that the world would call screw-ups. Abraham, Moses, King David, the twelve disciples. All of them were people just like us, they had their failures and made mistakes, just like all of us, and God used them to do mighty things. That’s the thing about Jesus, He takes our screw-ups and makes them His victories. My prayers are that Josh would repent, and that we would look back on this and see Jesus’s victory. In closing: Josh bad, Jesus awesome.

Consequences

Tonight, and the last few nights as I've lain in my bed I have been thinking about one word. Consequences. The dictionary defines the word as thus: 1.)The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier: The accident was the consequence of reckless driving. Generally speaking we as Americans, think of the word consequence along the same lines as a punishment. But, I daresay, that I could not find an instance in which the word consequence was paralleled to punishment. A consequence is simply the result of an action. For example, if I were to touch a hot stove and burn my hand, is the stove punishing me? No of course not. It is simply the consequence of touching a hot stove. Or earlier today, I was using my pocket knife in a manner that it was not designed for and I cut myself quite badly. Was my pocket knife punishing me? Of course not! I was being foolish, and as a result I was injured. It was a consequence to my personal actions. Let’s continue on this line but move to the perspective of a Biblical character. In 2nd Kings 22 we come across a boy king named Josiah. Josiah’s predecessors had all been wicked men, who did wicked things, and as a result the book of the law had been lost and forgotten. 18 years after Josiah assumed the throne, the book of the law was found. Josiah, after hearing what it said, realized that not only he, but the entire nation had become guilty of sinning against God in grievous ways. So Josiah ordered that the kingdom immediately return to God, and obey all the commands found in the book of the law. Josiah even went on a rampage across the land, destroying all pagan symbols, and outlawing pagan rituals. A great revival spread throughout the entire land. Many people turned back to God. But, prophets began to arise, including Jeremiah, who foretold that Israel was to be destroyed. You see even though the nation had renounced its ways, and turned back to God, there was still a price to be paid. Now, we look at that and say that God is punishing them. I say no, he is not. You see God is a holy and just God. His actions are simply the consequence to foolish sinful decisions. We want to blame God for bad things, when truly we are the ones to blame. It is really our fault. How else should we expect God to react to sin? And that is exactly what Israel had done, sin. They turned their back on God and his word, and the consequence was that God would do the same in return. Please do not take this to any extremes, I am not saying that God is simply reacting to us, or that he is incapable of merciful decisions, or any nonsense like that. What I am saying though, is that we must keep in mind that we are to be held accountable for our decisions. God did not relish or enjoy what had to be done to Israel, but their sinful actions had consequences that had to happen. If the stove didn’t burn us every time we touched it we might think we were safe to do it twice. If the knife didn’t cut me, I might use it in that manner again, or encourage someone else to do likewise, thus causing pain to another person. There are consequences to our foolish decisions. Why is this relevant? Because, I am struggling with the upcoming election, each way I look I see evil. How can I in good conscience vote for the lesser evil, it is still evil! Part of me has begun to wonder how much we have become not like Josiah, but one of his predecessors. We are turning away from God as a country; we are losing our children, to pagan beliefs, whether it is evolution, mormonism or simple agnosticism. What kind of future will my beautiful son have? Am I still proud to be an American? Will my son be proud of the country he is being raised in? Have we incurred God’s wrath? Have we gone too far? Will my children, my grandchildren feel the result of where we have gone? You see I believe that we have become too lazy. We have been fighting the wrong battles. We have been too concerned with things like, evolution, pornography, gay marriage, and abortion. I’m not saying those things are ok, but they are simply side issues to the greater problem, we have lost the authority of scripture. We have abused, misused and undermined the word of God. There was a time in this country when a verse from the Bible would bring immediate repentance to ones actions. Now it is scoffed at and spat upon. We have made Jesus this wimpy savior who came just to love everybody, and never call out sin. We skip the verses where Jesus flips over tables, and Paul orders non-compliant sinners to be removed from the church. We re-interpret entire chapters simply so we can insert millions of years to appease almighty science. You see the real issues aren’t what we see on the cover of the magazine or in the news. The real issue is we have allowed to word of God to become watered down and politically correct. Well guess what Jesus was offensive in his time, and he is offensive now. My fellow countrymen, have we gone too far? Will a simple revival solve this nation’s problem? Even if a Josiah were to rise up now and cast down evil and set God back upon the throne of this country, would it be too late? You see there are consequences to what we have allowed to happen in our country, by our own inaction. Once again, please do not take what I am saying here to the extreme. I am not saying that we are Israel, and that the Abrahamic Covenant now applies to us. But James 1:17 causes me to pause and wonder what will become of us. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (Emphasis added). Our heavenly Father is unchanging. What does that mean for us and for our ancestors? So someday if my son, grandson, great grandson and so on see this, know that I am sorry for my part in what has happened to this country, for we have gone astray from our guiding principles, we have gotten lost in the fog.

Thank God for mistakes.

I like to put my iTunes on shuffle and just let 'er rip. Whatever it plays I joyfully listen to. Several songs hit me right in a row, which really got me thinking...
The first one was "Glass in the Trees, by Dead Poetic". That song was instrumental in developing me in perhaps one of the darkest moments in my life. You can find all the lyrics here. The entire song is powerful, but the end of the song in particular was what brought me through the struggle.

We'll wait for you to come back home to the broken little foes.
Until the guilt grows and grows.
When the time that's wasted comes back to haunt me.
And I'll deserve every bit. because I'm not spiritual yet.
I'm just reading the lines they gave me from the pulpit.
And it's not fading off, we remember the years.
As we sift through the laughter to find all the tears.
And I'm not worthy of grievance, I did nothing to prevent this.
And standing at your grave, I could have caused this.

Just listening to this song took me back there. Back to the pain and the hurt. This song spurred me on, to not be like the author, to not make the same mistakes, to let God do what he wants and not get in His way.

Well, that song was followed by, this song. Which is "I so hate consequences, by Relient K". The bridge in this song took me to the result of that dark time. Allow me to post the lyrics for you.

When I got tired of running from you

I stopped right there to catch my breath

There your words they caught my ears

You said, "I miss you son. Come home"

And my sins, they watched me leave

And in my heart I so believed

The love you felt for me was more than

The love I'd wished for all this time

And when the doors were closed

I heard no I told so's

I said the words I knew you knew

Oh God, Oh God I needed you

God all this time I needed you, I needed you

Thank God for mistakes and thank God for deliverance from our own mistakes. If it weren’t for those mistakes, my life would be very different. If I had done what I should've in the first place, those mistakes never would've been made. Isn't it incredible how God can take our own stupid mistakes and turn them into something beautiful?

You intended to harm me,

but God intended it for good

to accomplish what is now being done,

the saving of many lives. -Genesis 50:20

Leave it to me to miss the point.

Last night as I drove home from a late night elders meeting, I was struggling with the usual "extrovert struggles". If you are an extreme extrovert like me, you know what I am talking about. The thoughts like "Did I say too much?" "Was that joke out of line?" "That was stupid why did I say that." "Man, that came out all wrong. That didn't sound like what I meant at all." Ever have those thoughts? Well I was in a room of men that I have a great deal of respect for, for four hours. I can barely sit still for fifteen minutes. Plus it was late! So I was at the top of my extroverted, A.D.D. game. And driving home, the enemy was really beating on me, with the thoughts mentioned above. Then the song below came on. And all of a sudden I realized that I missed the point. I missed the entire point of the "60 days of beauty project". Well maybe not the entire point... but A BIG ONE. He thinks I am beautiful. Just the way He made me. I'm a guy... I never think of myself in that light... I spend less than 30 seconds looking at myself in a mirror everyday. But He thinks I'm beautiful. Even when I'm a spaz and annoying, He thinks I'm beautiful. Even in my worst moment, He thinks I'm beautiful.

Today, may you see the beauty in yourself, the beauty that He sees.

Day 57-60 of my beautiful journey.

Ok so I know that I missed the last 3 days.

What I have come to appreciate the most over the last 60 days has been my Savior. I cannot think of anything more beautiful than him. His sacrifice, His grace, His mercy, His love. He is true beauty. Before him all things pale in comparison. So I want to dedicate the last 4 days of beauty simply to Him and specifically, the afore mention four attributes.

His sacrifice.

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

I cannot think of a time that I felt so low as the time that I came to grips with the fact that God took on flesh, came to Earth and was brutally tortured and murdered so that we might not be separated from Him for all of eternity. This price He paid, covered me, the most unworthy of the unworthy. The lowest of the low. He took me, unto himself as one of his chosen people. Knowing full well, that I would disappoint Him, that I would fail Him, that at times I would run His name through the mud. And yet, here I sit, redeemed, cleaned and made right through His sacrifice. What beauty is this, that the Son of God should die for a sinner.

His Grace.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24

I deserved death, but His sacrifice paid for my life. By His grace alone, can I stand. How is it possible that a holy and just God can look upon us, a world of depraved, disgusting humans and say "I love you." We do nothing but fall short of His standards. We lie, gossip, steal, murder and pervert everything around us. I do not stand to accuse anyone more heavily then myself. I fail to achieve His glorious standard on a minute by minute basis. Ane yet, He still came, He still died, and He still loved me. What beauty is this, that in my shame and sorrow, His grace covers me.

His Mercy.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," 1 Peter 1:3

In His mercy He not only forgave my sins, but He has offered me a new life, a new home, and hope. Before I knew Christ, life was lived and then ended. Before I knew Christ, my only home was a dilapidated two story house. Before I knew Christ, I was doomed to die and disappear, fading into the wind like a snowflake, bright and glorious as it falls from the sky, but quickly destroyed as the suns rays beat upon its crystalized surface. Through His mercy that has all changed. Through His mercy, I have life eternal. Through His mercy, my home is greater than any ever constructed by mortal hands. Through His mercy, this world is but a temporary stop, not the final destination. In this world I am but a visitor. Through His mercy I have received a new citizenship, in a country far greater than any this universe could hold. What beauty is this, that His mercy restores me.

His Love.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Above all else, is His love. What a remarkable thing that God looked upon us and saw humanity not as a stain upon His creation, but as a treasured part of that creation. What a quandary that He looked upon us, and said "they are beautiful", when by all accounts we have done nothing but pollute and pervert His glorious creation. How breathtaking is His love. That not only does He look past our sin, but He took it from us and died with it for us. What beauty is this, that He can look upon me, and still say "I love you".

If you don't know my Savior, then you need to. He is a gentleman, He will never force Himself upon you. But know that He waits with open arms, to restore you.

Day 56 of my beautiful journey.

Yesterday I went to see a doctor. I expected and received the usual from a doctor until the end... After he had done his thing and gave me his prognosis, he asked me if he could pray for me. How awesome is that?! I mean really. When you feel sick, who better to pray for you than a doctor?! He knows what parts are busted up! LOL I say this all in jest, but it truly was beautiful. A praying doctor... who knew?

Day 52-55 of my beautiful journey.

I know I am at the end and I am lagging behind. It was a really long weekend. I had a beautiful date with my wife on Friday night. Spending time with my best friend is probably the most beautiful thing of all. I love her very much and I probably don't remind her that she is my best friend enough.

Saturday the youth group had its first tryout for the youth worship team. He did a great job. Worshiping God with others is such a beautiful thing.

Sunday night I had my weekly Life Group (small group), and it was so much fun! Hanging out with those students and laughing and learning about the word is so awesome.

Today, answered prayers and the reminder that I don't have to do this on my own was beautiful. Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to do everything myself, and Jesus says, "Justin... shut up, sit down, and let me take care of this." It's hard to let go sometimes isn't it? We want to steer the ship, but the truth of the matter is we don't know the way do we? Only our savior knows the way. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice and for taking the helm, cause without you I don't know where I am going.