A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

I believe everyone has at one time or another, been driving in the wee hours of the morning, and have been totally alone on the road. It’s as if the whole world is asleep, and you are the only one awake. . . and you happen to come to a stop light, which is red in your direction. As far as the eye can see ahead of you, and behind you. . . to your left, and to your right there are no car lights even in the far distance to be seen. How long do you wait? How long before the little voice in your head says to you, “Just go on through. . . It is senseless to stop for no one. . .no one will see. . . no one will know. . . it will make no difference” Have you given in to this urge? I know that I have. . . knowing that I am breaking the law, but deciding that for that place and time, the law is senseless, and is not important to keep. It takes a very disciplined person, never to have run a red light when there is no possibility of anyone else seeing it. It’s about as much of a victi...

The past few weeks Jackie and I have been watching the series ‘Breaking Bad’ on Netflix. The scenario is of a high school chemistry teacher, who is diagnosed with lung cancer, and to help pay for his treatment, he turns to manufacturing meth as a way to make money. I find a peek into this world, fascinating for the fact that I am in regular contact with the after effects of meth addiction in my personal life. . . my best friend Matthew Yeater was blinded by an explosion that occurred while cooking meth himself, and in my ministry. . . many many of the people we minister to in the jail a there via their use or manufacture of meth. I don’t know how realistic the show is, in its portrayal of meth addiction, and the cooking of it, etc., but one thing I do find realistic, from my outside looking in perspective, is how this man thought somehow that he could just stick his toe into this world of meth, and so very quickly he was immersed up to his neck. This jives pretty closely with...

Years ago Jackie and I were driving in the mountains of West Virginia looking for a camp site. We finally found one at the top of a mountain in the Bear Heaven recreation area. The road to the mountain, was just a one lane trail, more than a proper road. There was no way that two cars could pass on this very narrow twisting dirt path around the mountain. As a flatlander, I distinctly remember white-knuckling the steering wheel, as we navigated the switchbacks up the side of this mountain. I told Jackie, that if we met someone coming the other way, that I was going to get out of the car and throw my keys over the side of the mountain, so that I could not be forced to back my way down the mountain. It was a new experience. It was very scary. . . very uncomfortable to me. I imagine that the locals, people who navigated roads like that regularly, found no big discomfort in that situation at all, but to me it raised my heart rate, and blood pressure, about the same as if I wa...

Our world is a changing. . . This morning I renewed my license plates online. A very painless process. It took less than 2 minutes, and I’d never done it before. I had to create an account and password, security question, etc., and even with that, in less than 2 minutes my new license plates were on their way to me. . . Compare that to the frustration of years ago, heading to the license branch on the last day of the month with everyone else whose name began with ‘S’, and as you finally found a parking space, glimpsed with trepidation your first view of a line threading out the door and around the building. . . knowing you had to endure at least an hour or maybe even two of waiting for the pleasure of paying for your license plates. . . now less than 2 minutes online and the plates are delivered to your door. Remembering payday years ago, and heading to the bank with your check in hand, again to stand in line to cash your check, or possibly hoping against hope that the cashi...

Continuing to think on how coming to God has changed me, in maybe not so expected or visible ways. . . God has had a greatly moderating effect upon my life. My anger, my depression. . . in so many ways I am a calmer and steadier person since coming to God. One not so noticed way that I have become more temperant is in respect to my self pride. Like many. . . maybe most young people I came out of childhood and adolescence with a wounded and maybe somewhat fragile ego. I had a significant lack of self confidence, and feeling of low value. My military experience was a large help in giving me confidence, a feeling of competence and value. Going through Army basic training, and having success in my advanced training helped me greatly in my feeling of confidence and self worth. That shaky foundation may be covered over by subsequent experience and somewhat repaired, but is not easily healed. It continued to manifest itself, by my always being on the lookout for slights, and disres...