“Some Sins Seem to Do More Damage”
devotion by Dan Allen
A drunken sea captain and airline passenger, as well as an angry train engineer led to problems on the sea and air and catastrophe on land.
In late February comes three transportation stories. This first is of a drunken sea captain who crashed his Russian cargo ship into a bi-level bridge in South Korea. Fortunately, there were no injuries, but the bridge had to be shutdown to check it’s stability, not to mention the red face of the sailor. Then there’s the drunken airline passenger who tried to slug a member of a flight crew. The flight, which had traveled four hours from Hawaii toward South Korea, turned back to expel the inebriated passenger. I’m guessing the other 262 passengers and 13 crew were none too happy for this almost 10-hour delay in arrival.
But the worst story comes out of Egypt. An engineer–less engine smashed into buffers at an Egyptian train station platform filled with travelers, causing a firestorm when its fuel tanks exploded. So far two dozen are dead with more than 70 injured. Where was the engineer, you ask? According to one report, he had hopped off the engine, thinking it was stopped, and was fighting with another engineer whose train was in his way.
Anger and drunkenness—one causing embarrassment and the other, mayhem, devastating lives forever. Both, sins identified in the Bible.
Drunkenness, not necessarily a key Biblical sin, is mentioned, however, along with envy, orgies, and things like these in Galatians 5:21. And it’s cast as the opposite of Holy Spirit filling when Paul notes we should not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, (Eph. 5:18). I’ve been a teetotaler all my life so this has never been an issue. I had a son and father killed by a drunk driver and one high on drugs, respectively. Thus, the issue strikes a sore note with me, not to mention the thousands who are killed on our roadways each year by those who are drunk or high. So to me, it’s an egregious sin.
But anger is a particular sin that creates untold havoc and affects all of us to one degree or another.
According to an assortment of Scriptures: anger, obviously, doesn’t produce righteousness (James 1:20). It’s a tool of fools and lies in their laps (Prov. 29:11; Ecc.7:9). It is ranked along with rage, malice, slander and filthy language with which we should rid ourselves (Col. 3:8). It causes fights and quarrels (James 4:1)—a natural outbreak of it. It is subject to judgment (Mt. 5:22). And, if that isn’t enough, to my knowledge it is the only sin identified that is an entrance way for Satan to get a foothold in someone’s life (Eph. 4:27). All others are as well, but this is specifically mentioned as such.
So, there’s a good reason not to sin. Not only because it displeases our God, which is the ultimate reason we should not sin, but its consequences are numerous and often disastrous and deadly.
Pastor Allen is one of our partners who along with Celebration Web Design will be attending the Alliance Council 2019 convention at the Orlando Center World Marriott in May 2019. It has been a privilege to get to know Dan, and call him a friend.
To learn more about Pastor Dan Allen and The Nathanael Project visit: https://thenathanaelproject.com/
Leona Choy of leonachoy.com
A personal website should be as unique as the person whose site it is. A client engages a web designer to take, as it were, a true and attractive portrait of him in cyberspace. A quality site serves as one's reserved space in the Internet world which aptly begins with a “Home” page, a landing field for a viewer who seeks to know the individual the site showcases. The designer is given the daunting task of getting to know his client well usually without ever meeting him or her. He needs to establish a relationship whereby his client will trust him to virtually read his mind and create a balanced and engaging honest product. And to do so within a few, condensed pages which amplify from the pull-downs. Moreover, the designer promises to craft that impossible dream in a specified, comparably short time.
I'm a long-time published author who wanted a face lift, virtually a makeover for my existing 10 year blog and outdated website. I wanted to move up to a higher level in my writing craft, to draw closer to my readership which spans the globe, to more effectively market my current 25 book titles in print, and to establish a viable communications medium to coach both aspiring and already published Christian writers. I wanted it interactive and user-friendly. I needed a fresh venue to expand my viewer base exponentially. I needed a site that I wouldn't outgrow and that would grow with me. I needed one that I could drive myself, hands-on manage. At the same time, a designer who would have my back, if I wanted to rev up my creativity or get stuck somewhere.
I came to Celebration Web Design to create a new launching pad for all of these dreams. I wasn't disappointed. I was made to feel a part of the process as I was asked to honestly and in detail spell out my goals and needs and provide the information, the raw material that the team could use to create my seemingly impossible dream. They patiently and most helpfully walked me through tangled, technical logistics that my non-tech literary mind could scarcely grasp. When the site was completed, they showed me how to drive this online BMW (Beautiful Medium for Wordsmithing) vehicle myself. They fulfilled everything in the first paragraph above! What remains is a “Shout-out” for CWD and happy anticipation of our continuing relationship.
Leona Choy started her writing career at the age of 27. Leona and Ted, her husband, had just returned from a mission trip to Singapore and Hong Kong. Leona has written 45 books with 25 still in print. She continues to minister to writers and readers through mentoring and her blog posts. Leona Celebrated her 93 birthday in June and is being featured in the fall issue of Wheaton College Magazine. It has been a priveledge and an honor for CelebrationWebDesign.com by SKWD to help with the creation of Leon’s new website.
Celebration Web Design by SKWD Associates, LLC.
PO Box 471068, Celebration, FL 34747
1 877-313-7593
CWD News
We will be upgrading our Operating System, SQL Database, Security and Hardware in May 2019. We anticipate everything being comleted by the end of the month. You may experience a minor interuption in service which will last between 15 to 45 minutes.
Over the last six months, we have made numerous updates to EZ-CMS including: Our Store program which now offers the ability to have your visitors download files. We added an RSS Feed Reader and also have given you the ability to take your site off-line. This shutdown system allows you to display a message on the home page for visitors see why your site is off-line.
Please feel free to email us with any changes you recommend, as we continually upgrade the EZ-CMS management system.
We are also in the process of making other exciting changes and will be rolling out our new drop & drag version of EZ-CMS by the end of 2019.
Thank you for partnering with us and allowing CWD to develop and manage your website.
Thought of the day by Gregg Jones
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
—Psalm 119:105
Everyone has a worldview. Our worldview is influenced by many things. It’s influenced by our culture, by our upbringing, and by our education or lack thereof. It’s influenced by the books we read or the lack of books we read. It’s influenced by the media we expose ourselves to.
A worldview is comprehensive. It will affect every area of our lives, from our morality to how we spend our money to our politics to how we vote. It affects everything about us. What we want to have is a Christian worldview, and more specifically, a biblical worldview.
C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” That’s how we need to view life: through the lens of Scripture, through the eyes of a follower of Jesus Christ.
The only way to have a biblical worldview is by studying and memorizing Scripture and spending time in it every day. We want to run everything through a biblical grid, asking ourselves, “What does the Bible say about this?”
Sometimes people have an emotional worldview. They base their views on how they feel. They’ll say, “Well, I just go with my heart, because the heart wants what the heart wants.”
Here’s what the Bible says about our hearts: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT).
Don’t go with your heart, because your heart can mislead you. Don’t go with your emotions, because your emotions can mislead you. And certainly don’t go with the culture, because that will mislead you. Go with the Bible. It will never take you in the wrong direction. Learn to think biblically.
www.shepherdsgrip.com