Kathryn J. Bain

What do you say to someone who loses a child for your freedom? Thank you doesn’t seem to be enough.

Today is Memorial Day. The day we remember those who fought for our freedom. Some came home to their loved ones, some didn’t. This is the day we say thank you for all those service men and women who risked their lives for us.

John 15:13 reads, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. There is also no one braver who is willing put their life on the line for another. There is no one more courageous than a parent who is willing to sacrifice their child for us to have those freedoms.

Yet, that’s what God did. He gave his only Son so that we could have a world full of grace and mercy.

On this day, remember those who have served this country. Thank those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so you could be free. Say a prayer for family members that are left behind to deal with the lose. Say a prayer for the safety of those that are deployed and away from their families.

And thank God for showing His love by also giving the ultimate sacrifice. His Son.

Thursday night the electricity went out at my house. After a half hour, I called the JEA, our local electric company, to check out the status. I laughed when a recording announced the electricity would return on or about June 13 at 6:48 p.m. Wow. A whole month? I called my daughter and told her I might be moving in. Good thing for her I didn’t have to wait that long.

Once it got too dark inside, due to the stormy weather, I headed to my room to lie down. It made me wonder what people would do if we did lose our electricity for a month. We’ve come to rely on it as part of our lives. Too bad we don’t rely on God as much.

Isaiah 26:4 reads, Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. God is always there. He never goes out. You don’t have to wait for someone to come and repair Him to get Him back to working. You can rely on the Lord twenty-four seven.

A thought came to me once the lights returned. JEA said our rates were going to be lowered. Was this how they planned to accomplish it? Turn it off on certain sections of town every now and then? Oh well, being without electricity isn’t that bad. I happen to enjoy reading so I was able to keep myself busy.

There are a lot of things we’ve come to rely on other than our electricity. Fresh water, indoor plumbing, automobiles, and for most of us, at least one computer in the home. How would you survive without some of these things?

A scarier thought, how would you get by without God?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday. My daughter drove over from Pensacola for the weekend. I knew about it, but no one else did. Her sister was totally shocked to see her. It was a wonderful surprise.

We went to a luncheon Saturday at my church for a couple of women from the South Florida Freedom Climbers. They discussed climbing any mountain that is put in front of you with God’s help. Matthew 17:20 reads, He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The Freedom Climbers climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money and awareness for sex trafficking victims. A couple women on the climb had themselves been sold or sexually abused. Those are horrific obstacles to conquer. However, with God’s help, they were able to accomplish their goal.

What type of mountain is in your way right now? Does it look so huge that you think even God can’t get you through it? If so, you’re wrong. Pray for His help. He’ll either help you climb it or knock it out of your way.

There isn’t anything you can’t get through with God’s help. You’re never alone in adversity. God is standing beside you. Sometimes we can be our worst enemy when it comes to getting through things. We want to fix it or do it our way. However, sometimes it’s just best to stand aside and allow God to do what needs to be done.

If we do that, there’s no mountain we can’t overcome. Even a mountain as large as Mt. Kilimanjaro or something as horrible as sexual abuse.

I’ve been sick for about a week now with terrible congestion. It’s made it hard to work on anything. I can’t even read because my eyes water. All I want to do is go to bed. It has also affected my praying time. I usually spend time with God before I go to bed, but this week it’s been  more like “Night God, make me better by morning.”

However, I believe this is the time when we really need to be praying. When we feel awful and don’t want to spend time with Him. It’s easy to thank God when things are going right. It’s a lot harder to find blessings when you’re sick. And trust me, congestion is nothing compared to what others have to go through.

James 5:15 reads, And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Another reason we might not pray for something like a cold is because we know there are people out there who have it a whole lot worse. I hate the thought of taking God’s time for something as impertinent as my congestion when there are others out there with cancer and children who are ill. I feel I’m being petty when I ask for God’s help in my situations. I’m pretty blessed compared to some.

However, God wants to hear from you no matter what. He wants you to pray to Him with any troubles you have. If you can fall down before Him on something as simple as a runny nose, imagine how quick you will call on Him for something more serious.

Take the time to talk to God, especially at times when you feel your worst. He can clean up anything from a terrible illness to a stuffy nose.

My brother, a drug addict, is getting ready to turn 52 and still lives with my mother. He no longer works because he doesn’t have to. My father was an alcholic who she never stood up to. My mother’s an enabler. But then, so is the government.

If you’re depressed, take a pill, and the United States will call it a disability and give you a check. We’ve gone past the problem of it being the “me” generation. It’s now the “what’s in it for me” generation. People sue for nonsense. Parents already supported by the government have more children. If your state wants you to take a drug test to get benefits, the ACLU will sue for you. We’ve become a nation of enablers.

No one has to work and take responsibility for themselves anymore.

It’s time we stop enabling others and make people stand on their own two feet. Welfare was supposed to be a helping hand, not a lifestyle. We need to take responsibility for our own lives. What your parents did to you thirty years ago no longer matters.

This holds true for Christians as well as non-Christians. Did you know the divorce rate is the same for Christians as non-Christians? No one wants to work hard for anything anymore. Galatians 6:5 reads, For every man shall bear his own burden.

 If you aren’t working but collecting unemployment, give it to whoever is supporting you. Don’t have any more children than you can support, and before you take a pill for depression, volunteer at a homeless shelter or a charity for mentally challenged children.

I know this is more a rant than a blog this week, but I’m real tired of hearing excuses from people who want others to take care of them. We’ve gotten lazy.

We’re a nation of obese people because it’s easier to eat fast food than it is to wash a few vegetables. It’s easier to sit in front of your TV than to take a walk. We’ve become too focused on ourselves and not on others. That needs to change. We need to let God take care of us.

It’s time to take the focus off “me” and put it onto something else. Like God.

Is it Love or Just Easier?

I read in the news last week that a six hundred pound man needed to be cut through his house in order to get him to the emergency room. My first thought was who’s bringing this guy food. If he can’t get out of bed, he can’t buy his own. Someone has to be buying it for him.

It’s probably just easier to bring him whatever he wants in the way of food than to listen to him whine and complain. But that isn’t really love. Sometimes saying no is showing love more than giving the person what they want.

If your child wanted to play on the freeway, you wouldn’t allow it. So why is it so difficult to tell them no when they want another candy bar, even though they’ve had two already? Parents need to stop being friends and start being parents.

God loves us so much He allowed His son to die for us. Yet at times, He has to discipline us also. There is no free ride. He knows that overindulging is not a good thing. Everyone has to use some self-control with some issues. 2 Peter 1:5-6 reads, For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness.

If you have someone who is so overweight they can’t even get out of bed, don’t buy them junk food. Stick a bowl of vegetables in front of them six times a day. They might complain, but eventually they’ll eat it. Give them a weight for each hand and have them do minor exercises. They might start losing some of that poundage and want to lose more.

I’m tired of reading about these people who get so big they have to tear a wall down to get them out of their home. It’s not only unhealthy, but it’s humiliating for them. Television crews are on the scene to tape every moment of it.

Don’t think by saying no you’re hurting the person you love. It might be what’s best for them. Don’t do what’s easier for you. Do what’s best for them. In the end, they’ll thank you for it.

We’ve had terrible smoke in Jacksonville this past week. Fires from Georgia and further south are to blame. It’s like driving through a thin layer of fog. However, when it lifts, it becomes clear and beautiful out.

It got me wondering. How many of you have that hazy feeling when it comes to your faith? There might be times you feel God doesn’t really hear you.

Don’t be mistaken. God is always listening. So approach him with confidence. 1 John 5:14-15 reads, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

I know what you’re thinking. Kathy, I’ve asked God for things, but nothing changed. There could be reasons for that.

Maybe God knows you’re not ready. You might be asking for a raise. Do you budget and take care of the money he gives you now? Do you tithe? You might be asking for a husband. Are you independent and set in your ways? Will you be willing to work hard at a relationship even if you don’t get your way?

Another reason things might not have changed is that you didn’t like God’s answer. Maybe you asked God for that raise, but instead you got laid off. Could it be that God is telling you to work somewhere else? Maybe even go into missionary work? Notice, in the verse, it’s according to “His will”, not yours.

Sometimes the problem isn’t that God is hazy, we’re the ones in the fog. We don’t always like the answer so we ignore what He is telling us.

If you’ve been asking God for something, and you feel He hasn’t answered, maybe the thing you need to ask is for Him to make you a better listener.  It could be you’re the one who is hard of hearing. Once the fog clears, like with the smoke in Jacksonville, maybe everything will become clear to you.

Have you ever lost sight of your child in a store for even just a moment? It’s a terrifying experience. It happened to me when my oldest was about four. I found her in the arms of one of our friends, but it didn’t keep me from thinking of all the possibilities that might have been. I’m sure most parents know that fear.

Mary and Joseph went through the same ordeal. But not for a few moments, it was for three days. If you’d like to read the story, it’s Luke 2:41-48. Thankfully, the story of Jesus and my daughter’s had a happy ending. Some do not.

This past Thursday would have been Somer Thompson’s tenth birthday. For those of you who don’t know the story, she was kidnapped and murdered at age 7. I can’t begin to understand what her mother goes through when she recalls her daughter.  I can’t imagine how a parent feels when they have a child still missing.

We don’t know why God allows these things to happen. One thing we do know is God doesn’t interfere with the acts of man. He gives man the right to choose whether to do right or wrong. Isaiah 7:15 reads, He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.

I wish God would smite those who do harm against children. A few lightning bolts to a couple sexual predators might qualm the rise in this crime. However, He allows these creatures to walk among us, giving them the choice whether to act or not.

What we, as Christians can do is pray. Pray for the safety of our children. Pray for those missing. Pray for the family members left behind. And pray for those deviant people who might harm children. Pray that they realize the evil they are about to do, and pray that they will turn to God to squash these feelings.

Until God puts me in charge of lightning bolts, it’s really the best thing we can do.

Facebook’s at it again. They’re changing over all the business pages, whether you like it or not. Of course, I don’t like it. I’m technologically challenged which means it takes me three times as a long to learn anything new on the internet than someone who understands it all.

Change happens in this world. There’s really no such thing as a constant. That’s a fact of life. Some we roll with, others we complain about, but learn to adjust. However, God is always the same. He’s never changed. His love for us is never-ending. Always has been. Always will be. His faithfulness lasts for all eternity.

Deuteronomy 7:9 reads, Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

For those of you who don’t know how many a thousand generations are, it’s a long time. Think about your own family. You might be familiar with your grandparents, even great-grandparents. That’s just four generations. Now try to fathom how far back you’d have to go for a thousand. That’s who long God has loved us. And He’ll be faithful for a thousand more.

I’ll get through the changes to Facebook, grumbling all the way. It’s just good to know that I never have to worry about whether God will be there or not. He is always with me. And his love never ends no matter how tired He gets of hearing me gripe about all the other changes in my life.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past two weeks, you know the name Trayvon Martin. He’s the seventeen-year-old killed by the leader of a Neighborhood Watch group in Sanford, Florida. The guy claims it was self-defense. News analysts are blaming everything from a gun law in Florida to the hoodie the kid was wearing. Who really is to blame for the death of Trayvon Martin?

We are.

When asked what the most important commandment was, in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If the shooter had been more versed in Jesus’ word, a teenager wouldn’t be dead. And if teens weren’t so prone to violence or having to prove themselves, a teenager wouldn’t be dead. All they had to do was talk to one another. Instead, the killer automatically thought of this kid as a “F… Punk”. And I’m sure when this kid realized he was being followed, he turned to face the guy, probably with an attitude of you’re not going to steal from me or “dis me.”

That’s the society we live in. We’re afraid to walk down the street at night for fear the two teens, no matter the color of their skin, might try to rob us. And kids are forced to fight for what belongs to them or for pride.

If the shooter had asked the kid what he was doing there, the media would have no story. Therein lies another issue. The media focuses too much on the bad and not enough on the good. Mainly because the bad is what sells. We have ourselves to blame for that also.

We’re all to blame for what happened. This is the society we created. And it’s a society that only we can repair. And until we do, there will be more Trayvon Martins’ who die.