But there is nothing normal about today.  Just think about everything that must function properly for you to survive! (Page 39 of Crazy Love, by Francis Chan)

I was driving out to work the other day, and I was thinking this exact thing, in fact I actually spoke this to Angie the other day!  Do we actually realize how much we are not in control.  As Francis points out in this book and as I realized the other day ( I was not in a wreck, I just thought this), we drive down the road at 65, well maybe 70-75, 80 if you are my mom, and we pass cars going the opposite way.  We do not think about or even remotely wonder if that car that is coming has been kept up well, or if the driver is alert, or if his tire is gonna burst, or if he is updating his facebook status while driving.  We simply think that he is in control of his car, and I am in control of mine or maybe we do not even think anything, because we really think that we are going to live past today, and for quite sometime.  We do not think about how our heart is beating on perfect rhythm, or if our kidneys are functioning right.  As Francis points out, ” the only people that think about their kidneyes functioning right, are those with kidney problems.”  This is the way it is with our life, we do not realize how short it is, we do not even begin to chew, or even touch this verse. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”  James 4:13-14

This 2nd chapter of Crazy Love has opened my eyes to quite a few thoughts! Do I really know that I am not in control of my life in totality.  Do I realize that God is ultimately the One who is in control and at any second my life could vanish and in a twinkling of an eye, I could be gone. Am I ready for that? How have I prepared my life in a way so that the preacher will not have to lie at my funeral ( I used to have a shirt that said that)  Think about that, have you ever been to a funeral where the preacher says something bad about the person that is being buried? (Francis points this out in the book) I mean we sit there and think, well he/she was not that great of a person, but it is like an unwritten law that you have to say everything positive about the person that has died.

I have done 9 funerals in my life as a pastor(6 of them have been car accidents), and each one of them have been very hard to speak  at and walk through, I have buried 5 of my teenagers, my friends Grandpa, my wife’s grandpa, my cousin, and my own Grandma, and for the most part only one of them did I truly know well enough (now do not think that all of them were bad, in fact my cousin come to find out was really someone that I wish I would have known better, she truly loved well) to know that every word that was coming out of my mouth that day was the truth.

There was this lady named Marilyn Conrad (my Grandma), who lived every waking minute, up until her last breathe at the Nursing Home in Wapakoneta, Ohio, for Christ.  I mean every second…well there was that one time she, my mom and Angie came down to visit me at church camp, and she fell out of bed and cussed….oh and that one time, her son Jim was taking  a corner too fast and she let another one go….but literally if you knew my Grandma, you have met someone authentic!  Someone who spent every waking minute praying, praising, teaching, thinking and knowing who God was to her, and in her what we would call battle with Cancer, it was not a battle to her, just another day closer to glory (as my buddy Mark would say) Now that I look back on her life, and I am thankful that I knew her the way I did, I realize that the biggest effect that she has had on my life is not the fact that she was my best of friends, but the simple fact that since I knew her, I was able to see someone who knew their life was a vapor and was going to live it that way.

So here we sit, as a human, we are worried about what car we want, what toy we are going to buy our kids for Christmas, what the job looks like, what tomorrow will bring,when we do not even know if we are going to get there! Seriously, think about it, I am getting ready to go to bed tonight and as I sit here, I have always wondered how our bodies rest and then wake back up, it is a big deal of everything working together.  So with that in mind I have got a complete decision to make, if I am just an “extra” in this movie of life, and I, much to my own demise am not the main character, but the movie is all about “God”  what am I doing to make Him more visible…..HOW MANY CAMERA ANGLES AM I GIVING PEOPLE ABOUT GOD IN MY LIFE.  Your life is not about you….sorry….the promotion, the money, the presents, the sex, the beer, the partying, you will not even remember some of the people, and as Francis Chan points out, NO ONE WILL KNOW YOU IN 50 years, in fact hardly anyone that you know will remember you in 50 years…so quit living as if you are going to live forever, and the people that are around you are always going to be there!

It sucks to think about but it is true!

I guess what I am getting from this chapter is this….you and your relationship with God is the only thing that matters,  on page 42 it says that Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what is happening in our lives, and that Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control!  These two things keep us from realizing that God is in control and handing the reins over to HIM.

Do you need to simply sit back, and really know that He is in control, can you be like my Grandma and Rejoice in every moment of your life….if you got cancer today, would you have to change the way you are walking.  You see some people have a great reputation and that is it…In Revelation 3:1 it says “I know your deeds,you have a reputation of being alive,but you are dead.

WAKE UP…you are not hear for that long….so live your life so they do not have to question what the preacher is speaking at your funeral!!

This counts as my Thursday blog…if I make it that far

Please read the below story….thoughts below

MUMBAI (Reuters) – City authorities in Mumbai demolished the shanty home of a “Slumdog Millionaire” child star on Thursday, forcing his family into the streets months after the Oscar-winning film shot him to global fame.

Azharuddin Ismail, 9, played the character of Salim as a child in the film, a rags-to-riches romance about a poor Indian boy competing for love and money on a television game show.

Ismail’s tarpaulin-covered home in a teeming slum was one of several shanties, illegally built along a drain, that were demolished by local authorities in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and entertainment hub.

“When they came I was sleeping, they shook me awake and one policeman even threatened me,” Ismail, surrounded by half-broken suitcases filled with clothes and utensils, told Reuters.

“What can I do if they have demolished my house? I will sleep out in the open.”

A poster of “Slumdog Millionaire,” signed by director Danny Boyle, fluttered from the only wall of Ismail’s shanty still standing. Open sewers run nearby and it had no running water.

Authorities said the shanties had been demolished earlier but had sprung up again on the same spot.

“The shanties are all touching a drain that has to be cleaned before the advent of the monsoons,” said U.D. Mistry, the local official in charge of the demolition drive.

Earlier this year, there was an outcry after pictures emerged of “Slumdog Millionaire’s” child stars living in squalor despite the movie’s box-office success and eight Academy Awards.

The film also sparked controversy for its name, deemed by some to be offensive to slum dwellers, and its treatment of the cast. Its depiction of the lives of poor Indians was dubbed “poverty porn” by sections of the media.

In February, the housing authority of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said they would give Ismail and fellow child star Rubina Ali new houses. But Ismail’s mother, Shameem, said the family is now at the mercy of the rains.

“We also heard that the government had promised us houses, but what happened? We are still homeless,” she said. “My son has brought glory to the country, shouldn’t he get some credit?”

(Writing by Tony Tharakan; Editing by Matthias Williams and Paul Tait)

Usually I will not blog about things of hollywood as far as movies, because it never really effects me as far as emotionally or any thoughts that pop in my head that I have to share, but this is a different story.  If you have not seen Slumdog Millionaire, you need to go right now to your local Redbox, or Video Rental place, or for that matter, you will like the movie so much that you should possibly just buy it!  The story is a rags to riches story that is filmed in a dramatic way, but even watching the movie, you really do not see the complete effect until a story like this surfaces…On Oscar winning movie, and yet these kids are still living in the slums…it shows me a few things.  It really is crap that this kid who was such a vital part of the movie, is not able to live in a normal home, while us in America sit in what we think are not lavish homes, but look at the shed in which they live in that we can purchase at our local hardware store for less than $50.00.  I mean seriously there are so many situations like this that are surfacing, that we as believers need to take into consideration in which avenue we are truly showing others the Kingdom!  

I am writing this as well to challenge as many people to this following email. My mom recently visited Africa and has since learned that she and all of us can purchase a lot of land that can turn into an orphanage…..I cannot describe it any better, so I will just let you read the email straight from Africa!!

Dear Janelle, How are you and the ministry ,How is Rock,Gabe and Tug,the two daughter in-laws and the six grandchildren? hope they are fine in the name of Jesus christ.I am so happy to receive a letter from you once a gain,we are excited .Everybody is fine and the ministry is doing okay.The children and the staff are doing fine .Dad is recovering and getting strong and we thank God for that.  Janelle I know it is the will of God to have those pieces of Land,because if the devil have them it will mean a different thing to the children ministry and the impact it will have to the children within the community.Isaiah 54 as from verse 1 on wards says we should expand to right and to the left and we should not spare.You see people have been coming to buy it and letter disagree,they want to develop it and just everything comes to a stand still.God is still holding that land for us.I totally believe it is the will of God to have those land to his glory.There are territorial demons that control the people in this area and they want to have their agents to posses everything so that they can control the area efectively,but we the children of God are here and we will take charge.    I also believe your ministry is in Africa,Kenya(Matisi and expanding) and your coming will mean a plus to the kingdom of God and destruction to the kingdom of darkness.I know that God is able to abound all grace towards you so that you will be safficient in all things also to preach the word.God wants the people Get saved more than we want,so he will provide,amen.Concerning the people to work with let me also pray about it.     Tell Tug,the ministry that God gave Him is still intact and that is the blessing, wherever he goes he will prosper ,for the path of the just is like a shinning light that shines ever brighter unto a perfect day.Read Deut 28.      Did you get the details that Pst Patricia was asking?Greet her in the name of Jesus . Dorcas is fine and Gloria with everybody around me,Dorcas misses you and longs to see you,Hug that great man of God, Rock we miss him too. Bye for now,you are blessed. Benson  So how can you help…..this land can be purchased right now for a total of 5,000 dollars, and if you would like to help, please either contact me on Facebook, Twitter, email me (tug@willrock4food.com) or my mother at janelle@unreined.com   If we can get 100 $50.00 donations, we are done and imagine how many lives will be touched!!! Here is an actual picture of Benson in the orphanage that was without Mattresses until mom actually was able to assist in the purchasing of the mattresses for this room!!  Let us get them another orphanage!! Let our love be motivated by that of Christ!!!  Let us turn their lives around by our love for God!! Will continue to update people on the process of this!! Unworthy but His and always wanting to Bust Satan in the Mouth!!  Tug Taviano Twitter:  tugtaviano Facebook: Tug Taviano Email: tug@willrock4food.com