Ten Treatisies Against Denominations

We are looking around for churches to get married in. We found this great chapel at a church in Midland, where Layne's folks live. Herein lies the rub...

It is a specific denominational church. We went inside to look at the sancutary and loved it...very colonial and different. Looked just like that church from The Patriot. Anywho, the paster was there. He informed us that in order to get marrie dat that church we had to take classes and give membership to that church. When we said we were members elsewhere, he said, "oh! no, you have to have membership here."

Now - I understand that they hold their church very sacred. It is a holy pl;ace for rituals and rites that lift glory to God, and also probably condemn people for not following every law. RTegardless of that fact, I am a member of CHRIST'S CHURCH!!!! HIS church that HE made for eternity! We are a BODY of people...my friend TJ once said, "If we all call Him father, we do we not act like brothers?"

I just get to irritated that we all get caught up in the littel things of religion...that's what makes it so confusing and untrustworthy to those outside of the church. Denominations are almost at war with one another. My first time at a Nazarene church, they welcomed me with ope n arms when I told them I had come from a Baptist church. "We don't like them, anyway," one woman said.
Shady McShades, I tell ya...

Two Weeks Notice

I have acepted an offer to work as a primary care sales rep for Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals in Grand Rapids! Layne & I are both so excited, as this will be perfect timing with a wedding coming up and also because this is what I have wanted to be doing for SO LONG! It is a great job, with AMAZING benefits, includes a more promising salary and is just the icing on the cake.

The tough part will be putting in my 2 weeks notice with Enterprise. You see, last Wednesday they promoted me to Asst Manager at a branch in town. Well, I did that in case this Sanofi thing didn't work out. Well, it has....fortunatley, but my Enterprise folks will be PISSED! Oh well, most of them couldn't care less about me anyway, in all honesty. Given thi sopportunity, anyone in my shoes would be crazy not to take it.

So we are planning the wedding....if you want to keep up on this, check out our wedding blog @

http://joshandlayne.blogspot.com

God is soooooooooo good!
josh

Goin' to the Chapel

Before we get to the title story i want to say this: I grieve for the masses in LA and MS. I ache for them. I can't ever fathom what it would be like to be moved to NY or MI, when all your life you have lived in New Orleans. I don't know how much pain I could take if I knew my babies had drown, but couldnt be recovered until the floods that took them dried up.

I hate this storm! And what it meant for the thousands affected! They didn't ask for it! But what I wrote the other day was just thoughts...probably because i was reading a spiritual warfare novel by Frank Peretti (http://www.perettionline.com/). Nevertheless, God will make wonders out of what happened...


Next....



I AM GETTING MARRIED! That's right, if you haven't heard from me yet, I got engaged this weekend to my lovely fiance, Layne Shoaf. She is the most wonderful perons I know, and brings me such joy! I am so thrilled and excited to begin our life together....

I love you, babe...me

Sodom & Orleans

The events in the southern gulf states are catastrophic. I see the pictures on CNN.com and watch the news, and become sick to think people are so desperate. The entire city of New Orleans is a giant toilet: the city is shaped like a bowl, and sewage is leaking and contaminating everything. Americas rush to aid their fellow citizens, much like what happened in the Tsunami disaster. I have some thoughts on this:

(1) There is a lot of press regarding Hurrican Katrina. But somehow, it seems, at least to this midwesterner, that America is not as ready to give themselves to this cause.

Yes, we are donating money and supplies, but are people flooding down there as well? In the wake of the winter tsunamis, you saw tons of young people on the news from all over the US who saw it as a political and humanitarian duty to go there and rebuild. I hope that now, as they did for those folks far away, they will do here for our fellow countrymen.

You may think, "well, YOU go then, Josh." Nope - I didn't before, I won't now. No offense, but everyone has their role. While you go, I'll pray....that helpes just as much.

(2) I have been to Mardi Gras. Two fo my best friends and I went down there our 5th year of college. It was a crazy good time...but my friend Javier said multiple times, "this is like Sodom & Gamorrah." It was. There was nothing int he big easy but sex, alcohol and drugs. Everything revolved around it, it was as much a part of the lives of that area as the morning commute.

So was this natural disaster God's may of cleaning up the city? I am not saying that anyone down there deserved to have this happen to them. There were so many honest folks in LA who had been there for years, raising generations of families. Much like a victim of an AIDS infected transfusion, they did nothing to earn this horror. But, perhaps, looking at it from a biblical and historical perspective, God decided that the rampant sin in that city needed to be flushed. I am not sure I even belive this, but it popped into my mind...

And then think of this... How sick is it that people are shooting at helicopters, fighting with the cops and stealing at a time like this! That city is crazy!!!! Even with a wake up call like this (regarding how fragile we are in such a vast world) men are still pilaging, raping and shooting each other. And the fact that the news agencies are giving tele-time to people who are outraged at the government for not helping quickly enough...I know that are upset/frantic/angry...but the media needs to realize that we are MOVING AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! When relief efforts turn into riots, who WANTS to go help??? Why go in fast, when you might get shot trying to lend a hand??

It is a devastating disaster...and I refer not to the Hurricane, but to the aftermath caused my selfish people. One man on the radio said, "these are not looters - these are people trying to survive." Yes, true...but it is still sad.

And another thing, why are the media agencies covering all THAT?? Why not cover the triumphs, the volunteers, the families reunited, the groups standing strong and giving thanks for being alive...???

Heartsick, and disgusted by the madness,
josh