
Past Messages
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Check out all of the past messages here:
Click on the Links below or simply scroll down the page to read each article.
Aug. 1st, 2023 - There’s a Storm Brewing
Aug. 15th, 2023 - Super Heroes
Sept. 1st, 2023 - Can an Axe Head Float?
Sept. 15th, 2023 - Are You Living Dead or Alive?
Oct. 1st, 2023 - What in Your Life is Keeping You Lost?
Oct. 15th, 2023 - Is Believing in Jesus Enough?
June 24th, 2024 - Am I Enough?
There’s a Storm Brewing
Message from Aug. 1, 2023
My alarm usually goes off at 5:30 am each morning, but I must have reached over and shut it off in my still half-asleep, dream state. I usually jump right up and get out of bed, but on this particular morning I was struggling to wake completely and kept dozing in and out of the dream I was having in the early morning hours. When I did manage to fully wake, the dream was still at the forefront of my mind with all of the details stamped in my memory, just as they had been each time I’ve had this same dream over the years.
As I climbed out of bed, I made a mental note to myself that I had the dream again, and my thoughts kept going back to it, rehearsing the scenes over and over again, even while I began my morning devotional and Bible reading.
This is just one of the recurring dreams I have, and the theme is always the same even though the details change up a bit each time. This dream is about cataclysmic tornados that threaten to destroy everything in their path. I can see them in the distance and there are usually many of them, gaining in strength and size as they travel closer, with darkening skies as their backdrop.
In my dream, I am always trying to get home or to a shelter and warn my family and others. Sometimes I am at the home where I grew up as a child and I am trying to get my son, or little brother, mother, whom ever is in that particular dream, to get to the basement or some other place to seek shelter. A common thread that runs through this dream each time I dream it is that I seem to be the only one who is anxious and senses the urgency to take cover or find shelter. No one else seems to be worried about the approaching tornado but me. Thus my dilemma, for each time I dream this dream, I have to keep herding people toward safety. I wear myself out getting them to a safe place, just to have them wander off again.
I never understood why those in my dream were unconcerned about what was going on around them. It was as if they didn’t even see what I saw. “Don’t they see the threatening dark clouds, hear the roar of the wind, or see the tornados approaching?” I’d ask myself. Are they deaf and blind? Why do they carry on with whatever they are doing at the time and don’t share my sense of urgency or do anything to escape the harm coming their way? Why do the children continue in their play, paying no attention to the danger?
Well, it wasn’t till this particular morning as I was trying to read my Bible, and found myself dosing, yet again, that I got the answer to the questions that I had been stumped over each time I dreamed of the tornados. As I failed in my attempts to stay awake while reading that morning, God was talking to me, in my half-dream state, about the dreams.
Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
This was why no one was concerned or listened to my warnings in the dreams. They could not understand or see the danger approaching, so they took no actions to seek shelter. They did not believe Noah when he warned the people that it would rain and flood the earth. Today, just like in Noah’s day, so many people, family and friends included, do not believe in the coming destruction upon the earth due to end times. They see no need to take shelter or run from what is headed our way because they don’t believe it is happening or will ever happen in their lifetime. The comment I hear most often is, “People have been preaching end times all through the ages. We’ve got nothing to be worried about.” They don’t see it.
In the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 33, it talks about there being a watchman who walks along the top of the castle walls at night searching the horizon for any sign of danger. The watchman is responsible to sound a warning if he sees the enemy approaching, and the penalty for not sounding the alarm was being held responsible for all of the lives that could have been saved had he been obedient in his role. It goes on to say that if the watchman sounds the alarm and the people do not heed its warning then they are responsible for their own death and the watchman is not held accountable.
Ezekiel 33:9 “But if you make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his way for the purpose of turning him from it, and he is not turned from his way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, but your life will be safe.”
They can’t hear the wind roaring! The tornados, symbolic of devastating destruction, will overtake them with no time to seek safety because they are deaf and blind to the messenger (God) who says, “Repent, or die in the flood!” or in this case the tornado, or anything that can take one’s life and leave them in an un-repentant state.
I have been having this particular dream over a period of many years, but only in the last 5 or 6 years have I been studying prophesy and what my Bible has to say about the storm that is brewing and headed our way. I thank the Lord, my God, who allows me to have dreams with messages that teach me and bring me understanding.
In March of last year, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me an urgency to share the message of Jesus and His salvation through repentance, so that people can live in obedience to God and not have to worry about the approaching storm. This is the first of the messages and stories I want to share, as I sound the alarm of the night watchman, in obedience to what God has called me to do.
Not all of my messages will be so ominous, there will be stories of God’s faithfulness, healing, His unconditional love, and so much more. But I must first continue to share more about my tornado dreams.
On the morning of Thursday, July 13th,2023 I had the tornado dream again. If the interpretation of the tornado dreams were not warning enough, a recent change to the tornado dream upped the ante to a whole new level of urgency.
While in the dream, I gathered those nearby, including my children, into the house for protection just as I always do in the dream. This time, instead of the people not taking the warning seriously, they were actually seeking cover, like it was a life-or-death situation.
The tornado approached with a deafening roar of some ghoulish, angry monster. It was such a terrifying sound, that I’ll never forget it. This time, unlike all the other dreams, it actually did damage and took off the roof, exposing those of us who were hiding inside. I yelled as loud as I could, telling the others to move to the basement to take shelter. As I looked out a window to assess the situation, I told someone nearby, “Look, the tornado has a head like a man.” The tornado was no longer a force of nature that randomly strikes and then moves on. Instead, it was a very dark, demonic force of intentional destruction. It would strike the house and do considerable damage and then back up and vengefully strike again and again.
I knew when I struggled to wake that morning, that the time for warning others was running out, not for warning others about tornados, but warning others that time is short and the signs that let us know we are in the last days are upon us, the days that are like that of when Noah was upon the earth right before God destroyed everyone and everything with a world-wide flood because of the wickedness. Once again, Matthew 24:37 says, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” This tells us that in the same way the world was filled with evil and rampant sin during the days of Noah, that when the time comes for Jesus to return, the world we live in will look much the same, and we are fast approaching that sinful state that Noah’s generation was in, that brought the judgement of God.
The urgency to get this message out was turned up several notches with the change in my recent tornado dream. I can no longer drag my feet, because God has entrusted me with these dreams over the years as His way of working through me to share with others His message before it is too late.
What is His message? Quite simply put, God loves you and He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for your sins so that through forgiveness and the grace of God, you can be saved.
What does it mean, ”I can be saved?” In my opinion, other than reading the whole New Testament of the Bible to answer this question, no one sums it up better than Kevin R. Swift in the first nine pages of his book “The Kingdom Calendar.” But because I can’t copy nine full pages of his book into my article, let me do my best, using scripture, to answer this question.
The following verses are from the Bible in the book of Romans, Chapter 3, verses 22-26:
22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.
My interpretation:
Every single one of us has sinned and the punishment for sin is death under God’s law. But because God loves you and me so very much, He provided a way to pay the price for our sins so we would not have to die an eternal death. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die, to be the blood atonement necessary to pay for our sins. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have eternal life with God and Jesus instead of what we deserve, an eternity in hell.
If you would like to receive God’s forgiveness and enter into the family of God where you can spend eternity with Jesus Christ and God the Father, pray this simple prayer:
Lord Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner and am in need of forgiveness from my sins. I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and I want to turn my life over to You, Jesus, and ask that You be my Lord and Savior. I give my life to You and ask that You would give me the Holy Spirit to guide me and take control of my life from this day forward. I thank you, Jesus!
Amen.
I would love to hear from you if you prayed this prayer. You can go to the Contact page and leave a short message.
Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I pray that God will bless your life through the saving grace that only comes through Jesus Christ!

Message from Aug. 15, 2023
Super Heroes
(Picture by Israel Alatorre – smileyguyillustrations@yahoo.com)
There is quite an obsession with super heroes these days, among our youth and grown-up kids alike. For years, my adult daughters and their husbands were all about Superman. They watched the then hit, TV series, “Smallville,” about the handsome, young, Clark Kent. They wore Superman tee-shirts, drank from Superman coffee mugs, and even wore Superman PJs. It didn’t take long though for my younger daughter to leave behind her childish ways and move on from Superman to Green Arrow. Yes I know, I know, but it’s true! All kidding aside though, at any given moment there is at least one movie playing at the theaters about one or more of the legendary comic heroes. Merchandise selling all sorts of these characters (Spider Man, Ant Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Hulk, Thor and many more) can be found on bath towels, drinking cups, lunch boxes, back packs, etc. I’ve witnessed my grandkids at play taking on their favorite character, and they truly believe they are the masked man with a cape, or that they can fly or leap in front of a moving car without harm.
My oldest daughter had been playing super heroes at home with her 4 year old son, prior to going to the grocery store. When they reached the check-out stand, her little guy was acting up in the child seat of the shopping cart, being loud and obnoxious, so she told him to sit still and be quiet. His reply was, “Use your super powers and make me!” I am sure you can imagine the look on the check-out gal’s face as my daughter’s eyes widened and she didn’t know whether to laugh or to correct him, for just moments before, that was how they were playing at home and this little guy was still in character, not meaning to be defiant and not knowing how to separate the play from reality.
The truth is young and old alike want to believe in super powers. We all want to believe in a power that is good, that comes to people’s rescue in a time of need, a power that rights wrongs and fights injustice. We all need super heroes!
I’m no different! Here’s why. I was looking for someone to save me. Not in the Clark Kent, swoop down, gather me in his arms and fly off, Superman kind of way, but I was looking for a big, strong man who would protect me, shelter me from harm, be my body guard, stand up for me as a single mom with two daughters, at the time, and all the other super hero traits we come to expect from the movie heroes. Unrealistic at best, but still it was what I was searching for. After a life filled with abuse and anything but protection from the men in my life, insanely I was still reaching out for the unattainable. You are probably thinking you know where this kind of unrealistic expectations placed on a man was going to lead me, and you are right. Right down the road to heartache-ville.
There was this void that existed in my life that I was looking for someone to fill, and later came to realize that it could only be filled by the God who made us to be in relationship with Him. We all have that empty hole that we try to fill up with everything imaginable to make the emptiness go away. I placed an unrealistic expectation on a man to fly in and heroically rescue me from my life as a single mom, alone, and worn out with too much responsibility, and too little money. I wanted for someone to fix my life by giving me love, and therefore giving me value. I looked at the strong outward appearance of a man, thinking that was what was necessary to qualify as my protector and rescue me, and of course I was looking to be saved by the wrong person.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only one who can truly save us from ourselves, and an eternity of separation from God. God’s plan has always been to adopt us into His family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. In my case, when I went looking for love to fill that space that only Christ can fill, what resulted was unrealistic expectations, and a broken marriage that ended in divorce, and other bad choices. My actions lead me away from God as I followed my own will, and my disobedience resulted in sin. I desperately was in need of a Savior who could pay the price for my sins, so I would not suffer an eternal death.
Jesus paid the price for me and you with His blood so that we can live out eternity in the presence of God, by accepting Him as our Lord and Savior, and asking for forgiveness of our sins. By no other name under heaven can we be saved, than by the name of Jesus Christ, the one and only true super hero!
This same grandson, mentioned earlier, the one who told his mom in the grocery store to use her super powers to make him sit still and be quiet, now age 7, was playing with his cousin of the same age when he told her, “When I grow up I’m going to be a super hero and save the world!” His sweet cousin replied, “Jesus already did that!” Yes, it blew the wind right out from under the poor kid’s cape. But out of the mouth of babes comes the undeniable truth about the greatest super hero who ever lived, and is still alive today, Jesus Christ.
The only way to be truly saved is to surrender your life to Jesus. The world tells us the opposite, that we must be strong and self-reliant. We learn at a young age to pull up our boot straps and maintain a tough, rippled exterior, characteristic of a super hero. I can share from experience, that even though my outward appearance and demeanor portrayed I had it all together, I was a broken, scared little child on the inside, wanting to be saved.
My life had to reach the point where the physical abuse was such that I cried out to God to save me and not let me die. I made a promise that day to turn from my sinful ways and start serving God, even though I knew nothing about what that meant. I have been a long time on this transformational journey with Jesus and I am far from perfect, but am saved by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of my sins.
God loves you and me, and He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins so that through forgiveness and the grace of God, we can be truly saved.
What does it mean, “I can be saved?” In my opinion, other than reading the whole New Testament of the Bible to answer this question, no one sums it up better than Kevin R. Swift in the first nine pages of his book “The Kingdom Calendar.” But because I can’t copy nine full pages of his book into my article, let me do my best, using scripture, to answer this question.
The following verses are from the Bible in the book of Romans, Chapter 3, verses 22-26:
22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.
My interpretation:
Every single one of us has sinned and the punishment for sin is death under God’s law. But because God loves you and me so very much, He provided a way to pay the price for our sins so we would not have to die an eternal death, we can be saved. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die, to be the blood atonement necessary to pay for our sins. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have eternal life with God and Jesus instead of what we deserve, an eternity in hell.
If you would like to receive God’s forgiveness and enter into the family of God where you can spend eternity with Jesus Christ and God the Father, pray this simple prayer:
Lord Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner and am in need of forgiveness from my sins. I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and I want to turn my life over to You, Jesus, and ask that You be my Lord and Savior. I give my life to You and ask that You would give me the Holy Spirit to guide me and take control of my life from this day forward. I thank you, Jesus!
Amen.
I would love to hear from you if you prayed this prayer. You can go to the Contact page and leave a short message.
Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I pray that God will bless your life through the saving grace that only comes through Jesus Christ, the real super hero!

Message from Sept. 1, 2023
Can an Axe Head Float?
Can the head of an axe float on water? I know this sounds like a pretty odd question, one which you may be thinking, “Is this a trick question?” Before I answer this though, let me share with you a story that recently happened at my church.
Let me start by saying that our church doesn’t have one key person who understands all of the ins and outs of the sound equipment, nor do we have an IT specialist, so we needed to hire a couple of people to come in and get us updated in our equipment, wiring, training, etc.
The gentleman in charge of the sound equipment overhaul, came equipped with all sorts of tools to get the job done. In fact, he lined up several chairs in a row, like a long bench, and set all of his tool boxes and totes (with all sorts of necessary equipment), nicely on the chairs for quick and easy access. One of those specialty tools was a plain, old hammer, seemingly.
When the job was done and it was time to load up all the tools to leave, the hammer was nowhere to be found. Two or three people began the search around the church building, in hopes of recovering it, but to no avail.
Fast forward to last week when I was doing some cleaning and rearranging at the church. While I was moving things to properly vacuum, I found a hammer tucked up under a floor-length curtain. I texted the gentleman who lost it, along with a picture of the hammer, and yes, I had found the lost hammer.
When he came to retrieve the hammer, he shared that the hammer did not belong to him, but to a friend who had let him borrow it. He further shared that when the hammer could not be found, when loading everything up to leave that day, he had the unpleasant task of having to tell his friend that he lost the borrowed hammer. He felt really bad because his friend’s hammer used to belong to his friend’s deceased father, and it was really special to him.
I was really happy to hear that the seemingly plain, old hammer, had made its way back home. What was once lost, was now found.
Now, let me share a second story from the Bible, from the book of 2 Kings, Chapter 6, verses 1 through 6 (NIV):
“The company of the prophets said to Elisha, ‘Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.’
And he said, ‘Go.’
Then one of them said, ’Won’t you please come with your servants?’
‘I will,’ Elisha replied. And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. ‘Oh no, my lord!’ he cried out. ‘It was borrowed!’
The man of God asked, ‘Where did it fall?’ When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron axe head float. ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”
In each of these stories, the borrowed item was lost to the person who borrowed it. In the Biblical days, of which this last story was from, a person could not just run out to the nearby hardware store to purchase another axe. To have lost the borrowed axe of a friend, was a big deal! The Prophet Elisha understood the importance of retrieving the axe head that fell into the water, and used the power of God to get it back. Iron axe heads don’t naturally float up to the surface of the water. God worked a miracle through His Prophet Elisha, in order to help the man who borrowed the axe.
Why would God’s power be called upon for such a seemingly, unimportant reason, such as a lost axe head? Why would God care about a lost hammer, hiding up under a floor-length curtain?
In both stories, the men who lost the items were distressed at losing something they borrowed. Most likely it was not the value of the item lost, but the relationship with the person they borrowed the item from, that was important. Our God is concerned with every aspect of our lives, no matter how small.
So I ask you again, can the head of an axe float on water? Yes, yes it can, when God cares about the details of our lives. He cares enough to help us find a parking place downtown when we are on a lunch break and need to run a quick errand. God cares enough to help us locate lost keys and hiding cell phones. He cares about our jobs, our health, and our relationships. He cares when we feel lost or forgotten, or when our car is stuck in the snow.
I live in a state with snowy winters and even after years of driving around in the snow, occasionally I get stuck. It was after several days of snow and low temperatures that the ruts from car tires on my road, turned to ice. It was mid-morning and I was returning home after teaching a class at our local mission. I turned onto my street and the wheels of my car were forced into the icy ruts that had formed, and then my tires just spun, going nowhere. I was stuck.
I tried all of the tricks that I knew, everything that typically worked for me in the past, but to no avail. So I sat. And as I sat, I looked around accessing the situation and noticed that the neighbors that I knew, all of their cars were gone and they were most likely at work. I considered just leaving my car there in the middle of the street and walking two doors down to my house to wait until I could get help, but was not one to give up quickly, so I sat in my car and I prayed.
“Dear God, I need help. Can you please send someone to help me get unstuck?”
As I write this, I can’t help but chuckle to myself as I recall how instantly God answered that prayer. Almost as soon as I said, “Amen,” a small truck came around the corner with three men, two in the cab and one in the back of the truck sitting on a wheel well. They pulled up to where I was stuck and I told them that I had just prayed for help and there they were. I asked if they were just driving around looking for people to help, and the man in the back jumped out and said, “Nope, just you.”
The whole encounter felt extremely odd with how quickly it all happened after I prayed and the behavior of the three men. The man who had jumped out of the back of the truck had a small shovel and he hollered to the other two to come and help, but the man in the passenger seat told him, “You go right ahead. It looks like you got this,” and they laughed.
Within moments, the toothless man with a shovel, chipped away the ice surrounding my tires and I was able to pull forward, out of further risk. I thanked him over and over again and he told me that they just wanted me to know that there are still some good people left in the world, and they drove away.
I could not help but think to myself that I had just been visited by three unlikely angels, who came quickly to my aid in answer to my prayer. I could just see them asking themselves, “How should we appear in human form this time,” then showing up toothless and bedraggled, more like hillbillies then the big, strong, angels one would expect to see, like in the movies.
I love to recall this story when I need reminded about how God very much wants to be involved in our lives, and all we need to do is ask. I thank God for caring enough about me to help me when I was stuck in the snow, like I used as an example earlier.
When we ask Jesus into our lives, we become the adopted sons and daughters of God, and as such, we are promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.
Below are just two examples of scriptures from the Bible where God assures us that He won’t leave us:
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deut. 31:8
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
God loves you and me, and He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins so that through forgiveness and the grace of God, we can be saved.
What does it mean, “I can be saved?” In my opinion, other than reading the whole New Testament of the Bible to answer this question, no one sums it up better than Kevin R. Swift in the first nine pages of his book “The Kingdom Calendar.” But because I can’t copy nine full pages of his book into my article, let me do my best, using scripture, to answer this question.
The following verses are from the Bible in the book of Romans, Chapter 3, verses 22-26:
22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.
My interpretation:
Every single one of us has sinned and the punishment for sin is death under God’s law. But because God loves you and me so very much, He provided a way to pay the price for our sins so we would not have to die an eternal death, we can be saved. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die, to be the blood atonement necessary to pay for our sins. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have eternal life with God and Jesus instead of what we deserve, an eternity in hell.
If you would like to receive God’s forgiveness and enter into the family of God where you can spend eternity with Jesus Christ and God the Father, pray this simple prayer:
Lord Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner and am in need of forgiveness from my sins. I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and I want to turn my life over to You, Jesus, and ask that You be my Lord and Savior. I give my life to You and ask that You would give me the Holy Spirit to guide me and take control of my life from this day forward. I thank you, Jesus!
Amen.
I would love to hear from you if you prayed this prayer. You can go to the Contact page and leave a short message.
Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I pray that God will bless your life through the saving grace that only comes through Jesus Christ.

Message from Sept. 15, 2023
Are You Living Dead, or Alive?
Are You Living Dead, or Alive?
OK, that’s a crazy question, but it’s a valid one. Let me explain.
First off, I’m not asking if you are some kind of post-apocalypse zombie like in the popular TV shows. I’m asking if you are walking around dead or alive.
Let me rephrase the question. Are you a branch or a stick? Before you think I’ve completely lost my marbles, let’s go to the Bible, to the Book of John, in chapter 15, to learn what Jesus says about the gardener, the vine, the branches, and the fruit.
In this chapter, Jesus is speaking and He tells us that God the Father is the gardener, that He (Jesus) is the vine, and that we are the branches. The grape vine used in Jesus’ illustration has many branches connected to it, and we are those branches. The fruit (the grapes in this case) grow on the branches as long as the branch is connected to the vine. Makes sense, right?
Jesus tells us to remain in Him, or in other words, to stay connected to Him in order for His life to run through us so that we can produce good fruit in our lives. Why? Because a branch that is no longer connected to the vine, no longer has the life-blood in it, and is dead. If it is no longer connected to the vine, it dries up, withers, breaks off, and becomes a dry, dead stick. A stick that is broken off from the vine cannot produce a single thing. It is dead.
Here is where I repeat my earlier question. Are you a branch or a stick? Do you have life, and have it more abundantly because you are connected to Jesus (you are remaining or abiding in Jesus), or are you living dead, like a lifeless stick?
Jesus further explains that anyone who parts from Him (turns his back on Jesus and the truth) is like a useless branch that will be gathered up and thrown in a fire to be burned. Sounds harsh, but if the branch ceases to do what it was created to do, in this case produce fruit, then what good is it to God the gardener, or to anyone else? It is then set apart for destruction.
John Chapter 15, verse 5:
“Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
For a good portion of my life I was living dead. Very simply put, I was not connected to Jesus. I knew about Him, I attended church, I helped others, and thought that I was a good person. I figured I was going to heaven because I was trying to live an honest, and respectable life.
Can you see all of the “I”s in the paragraph above? “I this,” “I that,” and so on. I thought it was all about the things “I” did, when in reality it is all about what He (Jesus) did, that matters.
I’ve heard it said, many times about those who have passed away, that they were a good person, they’ll go to heaven. My heart is saddened when I hear this because hell will be filled with many a good person who did not accept Jesus as their Lord, and Savior.
In this same Bible book of John, in Chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through me.” Jesus is telling us that He is the way to God, who is in Heaven, and it isn’t about us being a good person or about all of the good things we have done. Furthermore, He makes it clear that He (Jesus) is the way to an eternity in Heaven, and not one of many ways to get there. The difference between the two words “the” and “a” are a matter of eternal life or death. Jesus did not say, “I am a way,” which would then open up the possibilities and make being a good person an option, or by having wisdom, intellectual ability, or great achievement, etc. What He did say is that He is the way, the only way. No one can come to God the Father except through Him.
So, sad as it may be, those who have died without first having confessed that Jesus is their Lord, and Savior, repenting of their sins, and being in a relationship with Jesus, will not be destined for Heaven. This is why I write these messages to make it very clear, that time is running out, and to urge people to repent of their sins, along with asking Jesus to be their Lord, and Savior, the only way to Heaven.
Being connected to Jesus, just like the branch has to be connected to the vine, is the only way we can truly live, and live throughout eternity with God the Father, and Jesus. We have to remain in, or abide in Jesus in order for His life blood to flow through us, and make the difference between living dead or alive.
If you are ready for the assurance of an eternity spent with a God who loves you very much, then let me show you how to pray a simple, heat-felt prayer to ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Don’t wait another minute!
Lord Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner and am in need of forgiveness from my sins. I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and I want to turn my life over to You, Jesus, and ask that You be my Lord, and Savior. I give my life to You and ask that You would give me the Holy Spirit to guide me and take control of my life from this day forward. I thank you, Jesus!
Amen.
I would love to hear from you if you prayed this prayer. You can go to the Contact page and leave a short message.
Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I pray that God will bless your life through the saving grace that only comes through Jesus Christ.

Message from Oct. 1, 2023
What in Your Life is Keeping You Lost?
What in Your Life is Keeping You Lost?
I’ve felt for most of my adult life like I was just dropped off in this world, this lifetime, by someone who must have pulled up to the edge, let me out, and forgot to give me the instruction manual. I felt like I didn’t belong here, like I was living in a foreign land, like I was lost. For many years I had this feeling of lostness that hid just under the surface of my reality.
I find it ironic that the dictionary’s definition of the word “lost” is unable to find one’s way. I had no idea when describing how I felt above, how right on I really was in the way I was feeling. The feelings I described above could be summed up by saying, I was unable to find my way.
I felt so lost most of my life (unable to find my way) that I had the notion that I must have been misplaced, mixed up at birth, and given to the wrong family. How could I possibly belong to a family that didn’t recognized my worth and cherish me like a precious gem, like the princess that I was? Now before you go thinking that I have an over inflated ego and a sense of entitlement, let me explain.
I was raised in a very dysfunctional family with a father who was an alcoholic and not there for me most of my life. Along with him not being there were feelings of abandonment, fear, abuse, and chaos. I could not understand why I was not loved and protected. I had a mother who loved me very much and did the very best that she could, given the circumstances. But it is like having 10 people praise you and just one criticize you, you only remember and dwell on the one negative comment that cancels out the rest of the positive ones. Isn’t it amazing how even one event of abandonment, or any other traumatic occurrence, such as abuse, leaves behind a scar that you carry with you your whole life, if not given the opportunity to heal.
Many years of my life were therefore spent wandering, looking for the love and acceptance I never received from my father. The lostness that filled me to the brim made it so I viewed my world with clouded vision. How I perceived things, whether realistic or not, made all the difference in how I reacted to my world. I saw myself as someone not worthy of my father’s love and so how could I be worthy of anyone’s love?
I am of the opinion that the society that we live in keeps us lost. My reasoning behind this statement comes from my own experience of being caught up in a fast paced life that just seems to keep picking up speed. From the moment our feet hit the floor in the morning till we drag ourselves to bed at night, every moment is filled with necessary tasks, some undone that overflow into the next day. Finding time to focus on the things that truly define who we are becomes more and more a luxury then the norm. We often have to enter into some sort of crisis before we stop to “smell the roses,” so to speak. We have to get sick from pushing ourselves right up to the edge, before we slow down, and then it is because we are forced to, without a choice. We have to lose a sibling or other family member before we decide to work on our relationship with those who remain.
Sure, there are plenty of road maps for life, but when you are busy doing other things, you don’t have time to look at a map… thus, you get lost!
Let’s say you are suffering from the horrible experience of divorce and betrayal. If you reacted like I did, you probably buried your feelings by staying really, really busy. Busy with everything and nothing at all. If you stay distracted by all of the “things” that you think will fill up your time, you will never have to really feel the full effect of what happened to you nor will you mourn your loss in order to recover from it. Because we can’t find our way out of the pain and grief with some instant fix, we, myself included, stuff our emotions down deep and choose to busy ourselves with the things that keep us lost.
My own lostness had me so blind that I could not see clearly which roads to choose and I ended up making wrong turns that led to long detours on gravel roads, with dirt and dust clouding my view of signs that would have led me back to the main roadway. I’m sure I must have passed those same signs many times, but could not see them. Like an episode in the old black and white TV show “The Twilight Zone,” I’m dating myself here, where you could never leave town, you just kept coming back around to where you started, never escaping, or able to leave, so it was for me. I wandered around in my own desert, so to speak, just like the Israelites of the Bible did for 40 years. I grew tired of trying this road and that road, all of which kept leading me further away from where I ultimately wanted to be, free from the pain and shame of my past. I was exhausted from all of my failed attempts, lonely and discouraged, unable to find my way.
So to bring my thoughts back around, I finally had all of the lostness I could stand, and realized that I had ignored those upside down, yellow triangular signs long enough. I knew I needed to yield my will to God so that He could get me back on the right road.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the world’s best-loved hymn “Amazing Grace” and the chorus line, “…I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” The words were penned in 1779 by a man named John Newton who knew both the guilt and shame of gross immorality, but through the harrowing experience of being lost at sea for 27 days, his experience drove him back to the faith taught him by his mother. It took a storm that nearly killed Newton before he surrendered his will and submitted to God’s saving grace.
My story is much the same, living a lifestyle that nearly killed me before I was ready to give up trying to find the right path on my own.
What in your life is keeping you misplaced with lostness? What hardship have you encountered that has kept you lost and in need of a Savior? What pain or shame are you holding onto so tight that your knuckles are white?
God is a gentleman who will not take your burden away from you unless you surrender it to Him freely. So when your heart grows weary and your eyes become swollen from a never-ending supply of tears, and you too cannot find your way, all you have to do is ask. Ask God to pick you up and carry you from right where you stand, too weary to take another step. He will carry you into His fold like a lost lamb held tightly around the neck of the Shepherd. He will direct your path.
A book in the Bible called Proverbs, in Chapter 3, verses 5-6 (NIV) says,
5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to Him,
and He will make your paths straight.”
So, to answer why I called myself a princess in the opening paragraphs, it is because I know now that I am a Daughter of the Most High King and I truly am a misplaced princess, for this world is not my permanent address, for Heaven is my home.
“If I have a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,
the explanation is – I was made for another world.”
C.S. Lewis
You and I truly were created for another world. I know now that I was never really misplaced in the sense that I was lost, for God always knew where I was, and it was I who needed to find Him. Although at times I have tears that fall on this foreign soil, because I long for my Heavenly home, my eyes no longer overflow in lostness, for my homesick heart knows it will continue to beat wildly here in this foreign land until it is one day called back home.
If you are sick and tired of traveling down this road and that road, never seeming to find your way, let me assure you that there is One who will direct your path and lead you in a way that leads to salvation and eternal life. His name is Jesus.
In the Bible, in the book of John, in Chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through me.” Jesus is telling us that He is the way to God, who is in Heaven, that there is no other way to the Father, except through Him, Jesus. If you would like to Have God guide you in the way you should go, and repent of your sins in order to have eternal life with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, pray this prayer with a sincere heart.
Lord Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner and am in need of forgiveness from my sins. I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and I want to turn my life over to You, Jesus, and ask that You be my Lord, and Savior. I give my life to You and ask that You would give me the Holy Spirit to guide me and take control of my life from this day forward. I thank you, Jesus!
Amen.
I would love to hear from you if you prayed this prayer. You can go to the Contact page and leave a short message.
Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I pray that God will bless your life through the saving grace that only comes through Jesus Christ.

Message from Oct. 15, 2023
Is Believing in Jesus Enough?
Is believing in Jesus enough? Is attending church regularly, giving your full attention to the Pastor’s message, serving others, getting involved in all of the activities of your church, singing in the choir, making financial donations to the church, following the golden rule and treating others the way you would like to be treated, enough? Will any, or all of these things secure for you a place in Heaven on the final Day of Judgment?
That’s what some of the believers in Jesus thought back when Jesus was here upon the earth, teaching and preaching. Why, a particular group of men were even performing miracles in Jesus’ name, but Jesus said to them, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” See the scripture below, taken from the Bible in the Book of Matthew, in Chapter 7, verses 21-23. Jesus is speaking:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
You may be thinking to yourself, “Well how do I get to Heaven then? I thought I just needed to be a good person by following the law, by being nice to others, and kind, and by doing good deeds.” If you are thinking these thoughts, you are not alone. Much of the world believes the very same way.
When the believers in Jesus that I spoke of earlier were performing miracles by casting out demons, that act was not particularly a bad thing. In fact, any one of us would be thrilled to be able to possess such power and be able to use it for good in God’s Kingdom. The reason Jesus told them to depart from Him, and said this in the presence of His disciples, was to teach His disciples that the power to use His name in healing the sick and casting out demons was not something that was given to them to be used apart from Him, separate from Him, but to be used by believers who totally rely on Him and abide in Him. To understand what it means to abide in Jesus, please read my article titled “Are You Living Dead, or Alive?” in the past messages.
Jesus is only interested in those who are in a relationship with Him, whose hearts are fully devoted to Him in thought, in word, and in deed. When we love Jesus and work to follow the will of the Father, then good deeds follow naturally as a result of wanting to please our Father in Heaven and Jesus. Without the relationship, all of the good deeds in the world amount to nothing. You would be trying to get to Heaven on your own accord, without Jesus.
Let me give you a really crazy example:
Suppose you are a lovely young lady and you have won the affection of a handsome young man who lives in your neighborhood, whom you have never met. This young man picks flowers for you and put them in a vase on his table, he starts a savings account for the future home he dreams of sharing with you one day, he tells his friends about how wonderful you are and how in love he is with you. Then one day you bump into this young man at a local coffee shop and he begins to tell you all of the wonderful things he has been doing for you and that you must surly love him and want to spend the rest of your life with him. You tell him to get away from you, and inwardly think this guy is some sort of weirdo, or creep because of all of the things he said he has done for you, and yet you have never met him, or even spoke to him before now.
Can you see how doing “things” in the name of Jesus without having the relationship with Him or even getting to know Him, is preposterous! The young man, in my made up scenario above, is much like those believers who performed the miracles in Jesus’ name when Jesus said, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”
Do you know that even the demons believe in Jesus? In the Bible, in the Book of James, in Chapter 2, verse 19 it says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” With the understanding that God and Jesus are one, we see from scripture that just believing in Jesus is not enough. The demons do that.
So what does a relationship with Jesus look like? How do I have the kind of relationship with Jesus that will secure my place with Him in Heaven throughout eternity?
In the first sentence of the scripture from Matthew, quoted earlier in this article, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.” The will of the Father, God, is outlined throughout the whole Bible. In order to know what the will of God is, we must not only believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit, but seek out God’s will through Bible reading, and by praying for the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s will to us.
Back to the relationship with Jesus… can anyone get to know another person without spending time with them? It is the same with a relationship with Jesus. He wants us to spend time with Him, so that we can get to know more about who He is. The Bible tells us in the Book of John, in Chapter 14, verses 8-9, “Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” So, in getting to know Jesus, we get to know the Father and His will for us.
Once we surrender our heart and will over to Jesus, He will begin the process of transforming us into His likeness, where we will want to obey God, the Father, on a continual basis, not once in a while. This act of obedience to God’s will is what the scripture says is necessary for us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is more than just believing, it is doing God’s will. God’s will for us certainly includes us believing in His Son, Jesus Christ, but we must love God, have a relationship with Jesus, and then do good works out of our love for God and wanting to please Him, and not in order to earn salvation. Our salvation depends entirely on Jesus’ grace and not anything we can ever do or say.
None of us know the day, nor the hour when we will take our last breath. If you wait, thinking that someday you will choose to start a relationship with Jesus, it may become too late. Then He will say the same to you as he did to those who believed in Him, but acted apart from Him, “Depart, I never knew you.”
Don’t wait another minute! If you are unsure of where you will be spending your eternity, stop right now and pray this prayer.
Lord Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner and am in need of forgiveness from my sins. I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and I want to turn my life over to You, Jesus, and ask that You be my Lord, and Savior. I give my life to You and ask that You would give me the Holy Spirit to guide me and take control of my life from this day forward. I thank you, Jesus!
Amen.
I would love to hear from you if you prayed this prayer. You can go to the Contact page and leave a short message.

Message from June 24, 2024
Am I Enough?
Am I Enough?
This past Father’s Day, my Pastor posed the question to the fathers at church, “Men, do you sometimes ask yourself, ‘Am I enough?’”
The question was just one of many, as three different fathers sat before the congregation in interview style with the Pastor, as he asked about things related to them being fathers, husbands, providers, etc.
We listened to the responses of these three men, which included some of the things they feared in their roles as fathers, things that made them doubt their effectiveness in their homes, on the job, and in their relationships with their children.
A common thread ran throughout the interview responses, which was the need for Christ in their lives, as most attempts to be a good father, husband, or worker fell short when they tried to do it in their own strength.
This question is certainly not limited to fathers, mothers, or any one group of people, as we all, at one time or another, ask ourselves if we are enough: Do I have what it takes to be promoted on my job, am I attractive enough to find a mate, will I fit in at school, am I smart enough to attend college? Situations may come up where we doubt ourselves possibly several times in a single day.
Then social media, TV ads, magazines, etc. chime in with advertisements for products and information that promise to make us more attractive, to have more satisfying relationships, to be richer, smarter, and so on. We are basically being told we are not good enough just as we are, we need all of these products and services, even ones we didn’t know we needed, to improve and better ourselves.
What then is the remedy to all of this self-doubt, self-loathing, and the long list of our insecurities? The answer is found not in what or who we are, but whose we are. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and ask for forgiveness of our sins, we become the sons and daughters of God. We belong to God and have value. In the Bible, in the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 15 &16 it says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
We truly are NOT enough in and of ourselves, but when we become that adopted child of God, and are forgiven from our sins because of what Jesus did on the cross, we then can receive His strength, His power, His righteousness, His goodness, His favor and ability…through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Our whole identity comes from God and God’s voice spoken to us through scripture, affirms who we are in Him, whereas when we listen to our own voice, it will question our identity every time.
So if you are tired of feeling like you never measure up or aren’t good enough to…, you fill in the blank, the real solution isn’t in self-help books, products and services, the gym, diets or make-overs, it can only be found by surrendering your life and will over to Jesus Christ and receiving your new identity.
In Christ, you are more than enough!