July 20, 2022 Check In

It's 9:45 am. I've  changed the bedding, put on 2 new super chucks, and helped Mary put on dry PJ bottoms. Chucks are disposable absorbent pads. When I'm done with them, I just "chuck" em.

I have a 10:30 am delivery from the meals on wheels delivery guy. Marshall County has excellent Senior Citizen services.

Last night I had a delivery from EZRun on a Walmart curbside pickup of groceries I ordered online. Because of that and meals on wheels I am able to avoid having a vehicle, which saves us several hundred dollars a month.

Had a delightful visit with my brother and pastor yesterday, along with his wife Julia. We shared coffee and news, and talked about end times. We all believe we're close to big changes coming soon.

Permission slip

Patience, the painful teacher, has permission to chisel on my heart to turn it into the image of Christ. #wisdompoet #maddog #Alzheimers

A Note to my daughter

Thanks for adding a delightful social hour and your sound counseling. You get both of those from your mother who wisely restrained my wilder impulses but supported many others because she loved adventures too. 

Your father 

Chuck Mate

Hoosier accent

How my mind works

If at first you don't succeed, try 26 times!!

This post will take some time to complete, so check back.

Persistence is a life long lesson for me. I am convinced, although I won't know for sure till I get to Heaven, that the Holy Spirit has been my coach in this, gently whispering and nudging me along to be more persistent or patient.

There are plenty of examples in the Bible.

A king was approached by a prophet and told to shoot arrows into the air. The king complied and shot three arrows into the air. The prophet expressed dismay. "If only you would have shot 6 arrows instead of three, your kingdom would have succeeded". The king failed to take this lesson to heart and the kingdom later fell to the enemy. Google it.

Abram, later called Abraham, was praying that God would spare his nephew Lot when he found out that God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot lived. "Would you spare the city if there were 50 righteous people found in it?" God said He would. Abraham persisted and negotiated God down to 5 instead of 50. There were not 5, but God still separated righteous Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, dragging them out of the city.

There is also the story, told by Jesus, of the widow who lost her home, and went to appeal to an unjust judge. Her persistence led the crooked judge to rule in her favor, because he knew she would just keep coming back.

There are multiple examples in the Bible. Now I will tell you a few of my own.

When trying to get back on our feet, I spent a week in Colorado Springs looking for a job. My last effort was Hewlett Packard. It was Friday afternoon. I was hot, tired, and hungry. I went up to the glass door, but wearily turned around and drove home. We moved to California a little later.

Some time later I came back to Colorado Springs for my Dad's graduation from Bible College. I decided to look up my friend Harvey Kroll, who had been the personnel manager at Western Forge. He had hired me after interviewing me for 3 hours where we did nothing but shoot the breeze about music, because Harvey was a fervent music lover. I found out Harvey no longer worked at Western Forge, but was now the personnel manager for... Hewlett Packard. Harvey's office was just around the corner of that glass door that I never knocked on. Since I had taken management training classes, Harvey said he could have gotten me a management position. Lesson learned.

On the positive side, I once called on a family 26 times, not every day, but once a week. I would inquire into their welfare, make my visits brief, and do my best to not wear out my welcome. After 26 calls, they started attending church.

Jesus said for us to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that "my house may be full."

I've had a couple of comments about my character that have both honored me and humbled me. One high ranking supervisor worried that I would be overwhelmed at some of the problems I was facing at work. My friend spoke up for me. He said I would never give up.

When Mary's illness with Alzheimer's began to deepen, her son worried that I would divorce Mary. My daughter honored me with her comment. "My dad would never divorce and abandon her." I hope to earn that kind of respect from my children

Why Good People Go To Hell

 Why Good People Go to Hell

My purpose in writing this book is NOT to condemn good people, nor does God now condemn anyone. My purpose is to warn good people: Don't rely on your goodness to get you to heaven, for our goodness is not dependable. 

Rely on God. HE IS DEPENDABLE!

There is a destructive dangerous myth. If you believe this myth, your destination is Hell.

The myth is: A good God will not send good people to Hell.

(The problem is not in doing good. We need more people doing good. We have too many people doing bad, causing great destruction on innocent lives.

The problem comes not in doing good, but in relying on that goodness to get into heaven.)

Because many people believe this myth, A good God will not send good people to Hell, because they are destined to spend Eternity separated from God, beauty, rest, friends and in Infinite pain and regret, God did an INTERVENTION!!

The INTERVENTION was God sending His only begotten Son to be born of a virgin, do the Will of His Father by teaching, miracles, and healings, and to allow Himself to be falsely accused, tried, tortured, crucified, and buried.

The heavenly Father completed the intervention when He Resurrected His dead Son, revealed to Him to hundreds of witnesses, thirteen of whom wrote books about it, and took His resurrected Son Jesus back to heaven, again, in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses.

The story of the INTERVENTION destroys the myth A good God will not send good people to Hell.

The story of the INTERVENTION tells us... it was good people who brought about the Crucifixion.

It was His good friends that abandoned Him to His enemies.

It was good religious people that falsely tried  Jesus.

It was good heroic people that Crucified Jesus.

Are you a good person? Are you a friend of Jesus? Are you religious? Have you ever done or would like to do a heroic deed?

None of this will guarantee you a place in Heaven. 

If you believe the myth that A good God will not send good people to Hell, Hell is your destiny.

You have defined yourself as a good person. 

God does not define anyone as a good person. We have not listened to His Words. Not listening to His Words is why good people are headed to Hell.

Listen to God's Words. "There is none righteous, no, not one!"

"All we like sheep have gone astray!"

 "Our righteousness is as filthy rags!" 

"Why call me good? There is only one good, and that is God!"

Not listening to God's Words is why we die, and are headed for Eternal death. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's simple command, and chose knowledge rather an intimate friendship with God. For that, they brought death on all of mankind.

Listen to God's Word. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have abundant life."

Defining ourselves as good is not listening to God. Listen to Jesus as He says: "Two men prayed to God. One was openly religious, thankful, a giver, not an extortioner, or an adulterer. The other WAS an extortioner, who bowed his head humbly and privately and said God be merciful to me A SINNER! God heard his prayer!"

It is always appropriate to pray the prayer of the extortioner (tax collector or publican). Let's pray this together!! Lord be merciful to me- a sinner! 

When you agree with God that you are a sinner, you are listening to God, you don't believe the myth A good God will not send good people to Hell! and you have allowed God to INTERVENE or to SAVE you from a destiny of Hell, and put you on a path to Eternal life.

By agreeing with God that you're a sinner, you have turned or repented from your sinful, errant, destructive direction, and turned towards God, wanting to hear, to understand, to obey, TO LISTEN to God's Words, to seek Life, Eternal Life, from the source of All Life.

Call upon the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus to save you, and He will keep His Word, His Promise to save you, to give you Eternal Life, and you will become born again.

Keep listening to God's Word, my newborn brother or sister in Christ. Stay on the path by listening to His Words and I will meet you in Heaven.

My young brother in Christ.

Don't be reluctant or too proud to supplement your income with a part time job or a small business. Your making money won't stop me from giving to you. I helped a man in Pakistan once and he was a millionaire that hit a rough patch. I believed in him and I believe in you. Do whatever it takes to survive and succeed as long as it's honest work.

I am called Mad Dog because I would do any job no matter how hot, dirty, or stressful, and I did this while raising a family, pastoring a church, and caring for a home. I've worked low paying jobs when that was all that was available. 

I went from a large church to a small church out of necessity. I worked as a bi-vocational pastor, starting off with less than minimum wage, then stepping stoned my way up to a plant that made automotive wire that worked alot of overtime. Since other men wanted a break, I cross trained on every line everytime I had the chance. We had heavy medical bills because my late wife fought cancer for 15 years. God sustained me with His strenghth and taught me the great lesson of amazing grace.

Looking forward to working more with you in the future. God bless you with infinite grace, my young brother in Christ.