Life on a Leash

Choosing a Different Way

2008-09-11T10:06:00.001-07:00

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. " Romans 12:21

Seven years ago this day, the world changed. In the midst of billowing clouds of smoke, ash, and fire we woke up to a new reality; the world as we knew it was gone and a whole new one had emerged.

In trying to process what our eyes beheld, beneath the anger and grief, was the realization that soldiers in places like Concord and Yorktown, Antietam and Gettysburg, in European trenches, on the beaches of Normandy, the fields of Vietnam, and deserts in the Persian Gulf, must have grappled with. That fact that there are certain things that must be fought for, and things that must be fought against.

As a result of that day, my generation, which had not been touched by the ravages of war, would now embark in a polemic and important war...a war on terror, a war on evil.

Our soldiers on the front lines (may God bless their service) daily put their lives on the line to protect the good from the cowardly and insidious plans of those who are evil. Through circumstances I have not been privileged with the honor of service to my country, but I'm grateful for those who do. They drive the booby trapped roads, burst into terrorists hideouts, and face down the bullets so that my family and I don't have to. Daily, courageously, ferociously, they battle evil.

Make no mistake of it, the challenges we face as a nation, as a community, as families and individuals, are at their core, struggles between good and evil. Like those soldiers we must, on a daily basis, grapple with this paradox and choose which way we will go. Every decision made by individuals impacts us as a whole; The man who decides to resist temptation and not cheat on his wife; The woman who chooses to help her neighbor in need; the teenager who stays away from drugs and violence; the child who decides not to steal the candy from the store shelf; they all, in their big and small ways, are fighting to overcome evil.

It may not mean facing down bullets, or confronting terrorists, but it is just as important and necessary. We cannot defeat the evil without until we defeat the evil within us individually.

So today, as we mourn, and remember, and meditate on what this day means to us, let us take stock of our lives and identify the areas of our life were we have failed to choose good, and resolve to go a different way. Let us strap "on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:11-13). Let it be so.

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To the families of those killed on 9/11 seven years ago, may the Lord continue to assuage the grief that must be truly yours and replace it with peace. You are in our prayers.

To our brave soldiers on the front lines of the war against terror, may the Lord strengthen you and prepare you for battle. Our gratitude for your sacrifice can never be truly expressed.

May God continue to bless, protect, and uphold the United States of America.

Be Bold and Very Courageous...

2008-08-13T10:28:00.001-07:00

As we go about our daily lives in services to our families, jobs, communities and churches, it is important to keep in mind that God is always on the move.

I saw this on Fox News. This young man is a former member of Hamas who has come to know the Lord and is denouncing his former way of life. His courage in the face of real danger of reprisals for his honesty is inspiring. Would that we would all stand for our testimony of Christ in such a way.

Courtesy of Fox News

The awesome thing about it is that we can be defenders of the faith in our daily lives. How? By refusing to conform to what the world would impose on us. Romans 12:2 tells us to not conform "to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." What this means is that we have to parse every thought and opinion that we may have by the filter of God's Word.

This might cause us to change the way we think about moral, political, ethical and social issues. It might cause us to reconsider the things we watch and listen to, and who we fellowship and associate ourselves with. The news report did not say as much but I'm pretty certain that Masab's study of the Bible did just that in his life.

Not only that, but as his mind was renewed, it gave him the courage to stand for his convictions, regardless of the cost. At the end of the piece Masab says, "they can kill my body, but they can't kill my soul." The Word says that if our mind is renewed, we will "prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God." So the change and the difference in us will be evident to those around us, even to those who might be hostile to our message. Masab's renewal of mind landed him on Fox News!

My Brother's Keeper?

2008-06-23T22:34:00.001-07:00

It was early in the morning, and I was eating breakfast while watching the news when there was a breaking news story that at once was gruesome and disconcerting. It made my head spin and my heart sink. As I chewed on my morning sandwich, I saw a 78 year old man being flipped in the air by the second of two speeding vehicles. As if this wasn't horrifying enough, I sat aghast as the man lay motionless in the middle of the street as cars drove by and people watched.

Nobody ran to help. Nobody even approached!

Then I got angry. I thought to myself, "how could this happen?" What could be going through the bystander's minds that would impede them from even getting close? What does that say about them and about the state of our society?

This gnawed at me the rest of the day. When I arrived home from work, I found out that 4 people had called 911 and asked for assistance for the man. That mollified the malaise that I had been feeling toward the situation but only slightly.

"How could they just watch?" I thought.

It would be easy to excuse these people's behavior; they could have been in shock and thus frozen into inaction; others might have thought that if they got involved it might make them late for work; still others might have thought about the legal consequences of helping out. All seemingly valid excuses, but the problem is that the right thing to do is always the right thing to do, and that was to approach the man and see how they could help. It was as if the good Samaritan story was being played out before my eyes, except that there was no good Samaritan.

Then as I took it to prayer God helped me to see things differently.

It is easy to judge our brother in the midst of such horrifying circumstances. We could say, "I would have rushed out to help, it's a no brainer!" But would I have? Or would I have found a way to justify my inaction?

I had a friend who would pray every time we passed by an accident scene that God would protect the people and help them to find Him. It convicted me, because I realized that I lacked the compassion that seemed so instinctive to him.

And so it was on that Thursday morning.

The truth is that my first thought was to judge, rather than to pray. I sat there feeling helpless, wishing I could do something, and all the while I had the best lifeline right at my disposal--prayer!

Did I pray?

No.

So I too stood by and did nothing while that man struggled for life. May it never be so again. So now I look at the situation differently. I can empathize with what the bystanders were going through, and I can learn that inaction is never the right solution.

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How about you? Did you see the footage? What do you think about the whole situation? How did you react? What can we learn from this experience?

Where in the World?

2008-06-03T08:44:00.001-07:00

Salutations! In my endless travels through the world wide web I came across a nifty little web site called www.biblemap.org . On this page you can enter a Bible chapter and it will look up the geographical reference for you and put it on the map. For example, let's say you're reading Revelation 17:5, "And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: 'Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations'” (very end of the worldish eh?). So you ask yourself, "Self, where in the world is Babylon?". Before you would have to go to your trusty 20 lbs. library Atlas, do a geographical time conversion and after hours of research realize that Babylon is in modern day Iraq. Well no more my friend! Now you just log on, look up Revelation 17 and it provides you with a Babylon link, and "if you click it, the map will come" (not quite Field of Dreams but what the hay). It is still in the beta stages so be patient, but it should help make the Bible come alive a little more. Theologians attack! Happy searching.

Much Ado About Everything?

2008-05-23T08:23:00.001-07:00

Something has been bothering me of late...

Even though I know that we are living in the last days, and that this world is decaying, it grieves me that Christians are not more positive, because GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL!

I have not been able to find many people in my snippet of Christendom who think like I do, so when I came across Dr. John Mark Reynolds' Article Great News Today! Or Despite Us, the Church is Winning! Or Ten Reasons to Be Happy, I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't agree with everything he says, but it was refreshing to find someone with a positive mindset about what the Lord is doing in what Bogart, playing Rick on Casablanca, called, "this crazy, mixed up world". Let me know if you agree, or disagree. As Dennis Prager says, "it doesn't matter if we disagree, what matters is that we're clear about where we disagree. Clarity is better than agreement."

What Happened To Jimmy?

2008-05-20T21:23:00.001-07:00

To all who read and enjoy this blog:

First I want to thank you for taking the time to read my musings, please know that I appreciate your comments. Also, I have not disappeared; I will continue to post to this blog, I've just been taking some time to get some education on how to become the best blogger I can be for His glory and soon I will begin posting anew and (God willing) a lot more frequently. So what you will soon see on Life on a Leash (heretofore known as LOAL for short) will be the following...

My usual witty (trying to be), verbose, and (hopefully) inspiring bi-weekly/monthly column.

Additionally....

Since I desire this blog to be a ministry tool as well as entertaining I will also be including links to articles that I find interesting, informative and/or inspiring.

And...

Since I am a computer geek (took me a long time to come to terms with this but now I realize that it's part of God's beautiful design for my life! B-P ) I will be including links to helpful computer links or articles that I've been finding of late.

Furthermore...

Since I desire to make this easier fer ya to receive, I am now syndicating my blog via RSS feed, you can subscribe by pointing your RSS reader to this URL address...

http://feeds.feedburner.com/LifeOnALeash

So though you might have been in the desert that has been the Life on a Leash blog for the past month or so, rest assured that a new and improved LOAL is coming your way! May it be a blessing. -Jimmy

P.S. Many thanks to Nick G. for training me in some of the ways of the (blogosphere) force.

Any Given Sunday

2008-03-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

One Saturday night I was watching TV and ironing my church clothes when a commercial came on lauding the awesome wonders of a Sunday edition of a well known paper. Let me paint you a picture; here was a middle aged, middle-to-upper class man and his wife, sitting in a house that I’m supposed to admire with glasses of orange juice and cups of coffee, cuddled up next to each other on their couch and reading the Sunday Times.

“On Sunday” he announced, “there’s nothing I’d rather do than get up early in the morning and pick up my copy of the Sunday Times.” His adoring wife, looking up at him with an admiring gaze chimed in, “that’s because the Sunday Times has everything we need to kick our week off right.”

I was amazed by the declaration that this seemingly nice couple was trying to make. Am I supposed to believe that the most important thing that I can wait for all week is for Sunday to come so that I can read my paper and have a cup of java? Well maybe I’m too young to understand where they’re coming from but I would have to disagree.

What does Sunday mean to you? For most of us, it represents church meetings, lazy afternoons of rest and relaxation, football games, leisurely picnics in the park and softball; all good things to be sure. We work so hard five to six days a week, trying to pay our mortgages, getting the monkey of credit cards of our back, and of course putting gasoline in our gas tanks, that we all need a day in the week were we can just decompress! What is most amazing is that Sunday is His gift to us! And what a gift that God, knowing our weak frame, gave to us. Jesus said, ‘the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Sounds good to me, but is there more? I would humbly suggest that there is…

This Sunday we will gather to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I’m writing this on the night where we believe that Jesus was having the last supper with his beloved disciples. On that early spring night, He shared the bread which represented His broken flesh, and drank the wine—representing his precious blood—with them. “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He said (Luke 22:19).

Just a few hours after that, He who was the definition of beauty, the source of all that is good and perfect, was handed over to his persecutors and reviled, spat upon, mutilated, and hung upon a cross to die an excruciating and agonizing death.

On that day, “…He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

But, praise be to God, the story doesn’t end there! It doesn’t conclude with a grieving mother, dejected and disillusioned disciples, and Hebrew guards slumbering at the entrance of a closed grave. For on what might have seemed like any given Sunday, while the guards slumbered and the grieving women made their way to the gravesite; while the disciples hid and the rest of the world was unaware the greatest act ever recorded in the history of the world was taking place.

He had told his disciples “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Maybe they forgot.

He had told them clearly, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).

Perhaps they misunderstood.

They got so caught up with the worries and stresses of this world and of their loss, that they missed the glory of Resurrection day! Somehow the words He had spoken to them week after week, year after year, had escaped their attention and when the trial came they could not muster up the strength in His promises to even begin to consider that maybe, just maybe, He who had raised Lazarus from the grave could possibly do the same for Himself!

It is easy for us to knock the disciples for their lack of faith and belief in Jesus’ Words, but are we really much different? We hear the Word, week by week, and year by year, but do we really believe that he who conquered the grave so many years ago maybe, just maybe, could conquer whatever troubles us today? Have you thought about why we gather for church every Sunday? Why Sunday of all days? Because that Sunday, death was defeated, and the promise of eternal life was sealed as JESUS RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD!

Indeed every Sunday should be Resurrection Sunday for us!

So as you sit in the pew this Sunday, and every Sunday hereafter, ask the Lord to make it a celebration in your heart of the victory we have in Him. He purchased life for us at a very great cost, and gave it to us for free. Now if that doesn’t beat a crisp early-morning edition of the Times then I don’t know what does!

© 2008 by Jimmy Monreal

Our Dwelling Place

2008-03-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

“Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations” Psalm 90:1

Every Sunday morning can be the birth place of God’s fresh work upon our lives. Pews are more than wood or metal, foam and upholstery, they are the vehicles by which we get to see and hear the wonders of God. They are the birthing table on which a new generation of believers is born, the high chair where we are fed our first purees of spiritual nourishment, the desk where we learn the principles of kingdom living from our heavenly Teacher, the table where as disciples we break bread with Christ, the hospital bed where we prepare to return to Him. The sanctuary is a cocoon where all of these stages of Christian life take place many times over concurrently…isn’t it beautiful?

Yet sometimes it is easy to forget the miracle that it is that we even gather together to worship our awesome God. Somehow, in the unstopping, demanding, relentless pressure cooker that is our lives, it becomes natural to take our times together for granted. Too often personal disagreements, or petty concerns rip the fabric of the church to such an extent that what was once a beautiful quilt that brought warmth to everything it touched, is tattered, frayed and out of joint—unrecognizable to the world as something that God made. Beyond Jesus’ death and resurrection and His Word, the fabric of the church is relationships. It’s important for our generation and those that are to come that we never forget this.

This past Christmas, I sat at a service at my church and watched a traditional Christmas presentation from our children’s ministry. It was a common enough sight; boys in long colorful robes and head coverings holding walking sticks, little girls in white dresses with wings clipped to their backs, children’s ministry teachers miming hand motions and mouthing Christmas choruses, and proud parents with too many cameras trying to get the perfect (if shaky) shot.

You’ve probably been one of the aforementioned players at one time of your life, I know I have. I’ve been a little shepherd boy, singing the carols (off key) while waving at my parents. And, truth be told, I will probably be one of the proud parents with too many cameras when the time comes. Since it happens every year, it’s easy to become accustomed to the cuteness of the kids and the swooning of the adults; I know it happened to me. Yet, as I watched the presentation that I’ve seen countless times before in its different variations, God made it come to life for me in a new way.

I began to look around the sanctuary and saw excited grandparents, proud parents, mocking teenagers, and shy children—GENERATIONS of people serving Christ! It’s wonderful to think that these children will someday be teenagers mocking the presentations they were part of just a few years ago, the mocking teenagers will be the proud parents with too many cameras, the proud parents will be the grandparents excited to see their grandchildren looking so cute. And what is the common denominator? Christ.

He truly is our dwelling place in all our generations.

So, if God is the dwelling place, what are we? As we come together in the dwelling place and share our lives with each other, each one of us and our generations are the pieces of fabric that alone are plain, but which God sews together to become a beautiful, elaborate patchwork—that quilt that warms everything it touches. We are his church, his beautiful bride which he will one day soon come and receive into His glorious presence. Till then, let us strive to be His hands, His feet, and His voice to a dying world.

Copyright 2008 Jimmy Monreal

Of Dogs and Men

2008-02-14T19:26:00.001-08:00

In order to explain the purpose of this blog, I must explain the encounter with God that I had about a year ago that serves as the inspiration for “Life on a Leash”…

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:

I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalm 32:8

Last autumn as the cool of the evening approached and the sun was ending its daily course with a spectacular display of orange, blue and lilac hues, I was walking my dog Cotton. I was in a fowl mood; I had just had an argument with a loved one and was feeling sorry for myself because I knew she was right in her criticisms. I felt trapped, heckled, and underappreciated by the stinging criticism. That day walking Cotton wasn’t my customary act of responsible dog-parenting; I just didn’t want to be at home at that particular time.

One great feature of our community is that we are close to nature and thus have amazing access to the native wildlife of the Arizona desert. It is not uncommon to see coyotes, little quail families walking all over the place, and most of all bunnies. There are various bushes around my neighborhood that serve as great hiding places for these little creatures so that you could walk by and not notice they are there.

I had Cotton on his leash and we began to walk. He has a little walking-sniffing-marking routine that he goes through on each bush and big rock that crosses his path, and this day was no different. Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice that Cotton had stopped dead in his tracks and was looking into a bush. Suddenly, a little bunny with a white fluffy tail darted out from underneath the bush and as soon as Cotton saw it he followed suit.

Cotton is a small 10 lbs. dog with long legs and is able to run fast. That day as Cotton was darting he nearly pounced onto the scared little rabbit when a tug on his neck abruptly stopped his progress. My leash had held him back from fulfilling what was at that moment his life’s ambition—catching the defenseless bunny and doing God-knows-what to it. Obviously disappointed, he stopped, winked in the cool air as he caught his breath and watched the bunny quickly disappear into a neighbor’s back yard. As if weighing his options, he looked around, sniffed at the air again, and began walking, sniffing, and marking again.

I observed him for a moment and as I assessed what had just happened, my mood sank lower. I began to ask myself if I was a good parent to my dog. Guilt crept up in my mind as I wondered if he had hurt his neck. Thoughts of my poor dog's forced submission to my whims gripped at my chest. Was he happy with me? Did he feel fulfilled in his life, even though he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do? Did he chase the bunny because he was envious of the bunny’s freedom to roam where he wished?

The oppression overwhelmed me. As tears began to whelm up, I did the only thing I could think of doing—I prayed. I asked God the aforementioned questions, and shared my frustrations with Him.

Then a light turned on.

It turns out that God had drawn a beautiful picture of his process in my life through Cotton’s bunny chase. He took me back to the first time I saw Cotton at the Humane Society; he was dirty and very scrawny, scared and desiring to be loved by someone. He reminded me of how I took him in my arms and the immediate bond that took place between us. Then he showed me how I trained him to come to me and let me put the leash on his neck. How he begs me to walk him when I go more than five minutes past the time when I usually take him out. How Cotton’s needs are met through his relationship with me.

The bunny on the other hand is born and lives his entire life in the wild. At a very early age he has to learn to fend for himself. Whereas I feed Cotton everyday, the bunny has to find his own food. As Cotton monopolizes ¾ of my bed every night, the bunny has to find his own shelter. If there is a predator on the loose, the bunny must find his own protection, while the leash provides Cotton with a direct and immediate link to his protector.

In essence God was showing me that while I long for the freedom and independence that the world provides, God uses the “leash” of our relationship to provide for all my needs. If I need direction, he guides me through His Word. If I need nourishment he provides for my daily spiritual and physical meals. If I need shelter, I don’t need to find a bush or run for my life, I can hide under the shadow of His wings. When the enemy is on the prowl, seeking to devour me, I have a direct link to my Protector. And all that he requires is that I do not shake loose from the leash!

It is the same with all of us. It is easy to look at the restrictions that a relationship with God can seemingly put upon our lives, and we forget the blessing that it is to not be exposed to the wilderness that a life independent from Him can be. To some it might be humiliating but to those of us who know the value of it, it is an awesome adventure…Ω

Of course you can’t live life on the leash if you don’t know Him. If you don’t know what it is to live under God’s leash (i.e. to have a relationship with Him), you can. It is found in a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. If you want to start that relationship with him it is easy, simply please follow the link on the right of this post. Don’t waste another minute, today is the day of salvation!

© 2007 Jimmy Monreal