Well it has been awhile since my last blog entry.  You must forgive me, my family and I have moved from Massachusetts to the great state of Florida.  If you have gone through any type of move you know the headaches that are associated with moving.

We have been in the house for two months now, and I still have boxes in my garage.  That means that my cars are outside baking in the Florida sun.  The most important lesson I have learned from this move more than all the others is that junk accumulates, if you allow it to. 

It is truly amazing how much stuff we have.  I told my wife, “we got to get rid of some of this junk.”  Then she quickly reminded me that I said the same thing six years ago when we moved to Massachusetts.  Then it hit me, we do the same thing in our spiritual lives, don’t we?  We say to ourselves, “I need to get rid of this sin, or I need to stop doing that activity.”  All the while choosing to do nothing and allowing junk to accumulate in our spirits.

There are four types of junk that accumulate very quickly if you allow them to.  The first I already talked about, material junk.  Luke 12:15 says take heed and beware of covetousness, for ones life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possess.

The second type of junk that accumulates rapidly is emotional junk.  We know this because the divorce rates have skyrocketed in recent years.  Jesus says in Matthew 12:25, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”  That is exactly what a house with emotional junk becomes, one divided.

The third type of junk is physical junk.  Now that I have retired from the NFL, I continue to keep a strict workout routine.  I refuse to be one of those guys who gain so much weight after they stop playing ball, that people question that they ever played at all.                       1 Corinthians 6:20 says, you were bought with a price; therfore glorify God in youir body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

That leads me to the last type of junk that accumulates quickly, and that is spiritual junk.  Of all the types, this one is the most deceptive.  Once spiritual junk starts to accumulate, we become poor witness’ for the God that we serve.  Matthew 23:28, outwardly you appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

So what do we need to do to solve our junk problem?  Answer: throw some stuff away.  Hebrews 12:1 Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with endurance the race marked out for us. 

Well more bad news for footballs former prime time star, Michael Vick.  It seems he has gotten himself into a financial hardship and has to file bankruptcy.  Reports say that Vick has 10-50 million dollars of debt.  That is unbelievable. 

This follows another high profile athlete, Evander Holyfield who at one time was making over $600,000 a month.  He too in recent months has filed for bankruptcy.  I also read yesterday that troubled former Bengals wide reciever Chris Henry has also recently filed for bankruptcy after 3 short years in the NFL.  Unlike Vick or Evander, Henry only made $2.5 million in three years, so it’s easy to see how he is broke, right….. NOT……

Many people cannot fathom this kind of money, let alone understand the feeling of having it and then loosing it all.  But you know what is really sad about all of this?  Recently researchers took a poll of 8-18 year olds, and asked them this one question;  What do you want to be when you grow up?  The top three categories were; movie star, music star or pro athlete.

 Since you rarely see a positive story about entertainers these days, what is it that our children see that  is so attractive to them?  It must be the money.  Also, with the emergence of reality television, it has brainwashed our children to believe, they no longer need to work hard to get rich, they just need to be in the right place at the right time.  Then they will be PAID!!!!

Well so many biblical principals to point out from this story, I will however spare you all the familiar ones and go to a principal that is easily forgotten. 

Proverbs 23:4-5(NLT) says Don’t weary yourself trying to get rich.  Why waste your time?  For riches can disappear as though they had the wings of a bird!

Lets take our eyes off of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, wishing we were in their shoes; and lets put our eyes on Jesus.  Remember this, you have as much as God has allowed you to have.  If you think that amount is too small Jesus says, he who is faithful with little will also be faithful with much, he who is  un-faithful with little will also be un-faithful with much. 

Imagine for a minute that I came up to you and apologized.  You then say what are you apologizing for?  And I say to you, I can’t tell you why, I just want you to know that I am sorry.  You would think I was crazy right?  Not to mention you would wonder what I had done.  Well that is the latest sage with baseball’s Roger Clemons.   Roger came out recently to the media saying, “I realize that many people want me to simply confess and apologize for the conduct that I have been accused for;  but I cannot confess to nor apologize for the things I did not do.”  And yet he goes on to say, “I do want to publicly apologize for unspecified mistakes in my personal life.”  So just what is he apologizing for?  Is he saying he is sorry for using steroids?  remember he has been accused by ex trainer Brian McNamee as well as former teammate and current Yankee, Andy Petitte.  Well no, because he adamantly denies taking steroids.  Well then maybe he is sorry for having a decade long afair with country music star Mindy McCreaddy, not to mention the allegations of an affair with the former wife of golf pro John Daly.  Well no, he can’t be sory about this either, because he denies both those situations.  So just what is he sorry for?  Well there are numerous spiritual principals that we could touch on her, but I thought about a specific scripture as it relates to this situation. (2 Corinthians 7:10)  Say’s God can use sorow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation.  We will never regret that kind of sorrow.  But sorrow without repentance is the kind that results in death.It is so easy to say I’m sorry and not really mean it.  The bible say’s when you are truly sorry it leads to repentance.  Or in other words, when you are sorry you will prove it by changing your actions.   If Roger was truly sorry, I believe he would be able to tell the public what he is sorry for.  Instead he is trying to save face some how, as if that were possible at this point.  His legacy will forever be destroyed. So let me end with this question, are you engaging in the kinds of activities that will one day cause you to have to apologize to those you love the most?

Most people have probably never heard of Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. before a month ago.  Now it seems you cannot turn on the news without seeing something about this man.  Rev. Wright has said some very foolish statements.  Two comments specifically are “instead of God bless America, it should be God damn America.”  He also said Hillary Clinton ain’t never been called a nigger.”  Alluding to the fact that just because she is a woman, doesn’t mean she understands what it is to be a minority.

Why is this such a big deal? I mean there are thousands of people who say stupid comments everyday and yet they never appear in the news.  It is because of whose pastor Mr. Wright is.  Since Barack Obama is running for President of the United States and Rev. Wright has been his pastor for 17years, then folks are saying you cannot vote for Barack because of his associations. 

Now, I am not here to sway you to vote for or against Obama, but this does bring up a good spiritual principal.  We must realize that the actions of those around us directly affect what others think of us.  Every time an athlete gets into trouble for beating his wife, the public then lumps that stereotype onto all athletes.  So you have to be careful and realize that the company you keep is very important.  Even though you cannot control what the people around you do, you can still be held responsible for their actions.  Barack is finding this lesson out first hand. 

 1 Corinthians 15:33  Bad company corrupts good character.

Today troubled Cinncinati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was cut from the team after he was arrested for assulting an 18 year old.  The sad thing about this situation is he was due to come off his year long suspension from the NFL any day for similar incidents. 

Now I am not here to judge Chris, I actually feel a lot of simplity for him.  Mostly because he is in a NFL treatment program that tries to help troubled athletes when they get into problems.  However, a lot of times these types of programs only provide treatment for the fruit or the actions.  They never get to the root of the problem. They usually just teach behavior modification.

In order to truly have change in behavior we have to get down to the root of the matter.  Romans 12:2 says, do not conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  How do we renew our minds?  This can only happen by changing our belief systems. 

What we believe affects how we think, which affects how we act.  Some where along the way, Chris Henry aquired the belief that rules don’t apply to him.  As long as he believes this, his actions will never change, no matter how much he learns to modify his behavior.

 Many of us are more like Chris than we are willing to admit.  We claim to love God and yet we do ungodly things.  When we continue to fall to the same sins over and over again, its as if we feel that God’s rules don’t apply to us.  (Galatians 6:7)

Wow! It is almost the middle of March. Where does the time go? Its as if 24 hours just isn’t ample enough time to get all the stuff done that I want to do. It seems like only yesterday that our dream season quickly turned into a nighmare when we lost to the New York football Giants. What a waste, but I am over it. I have come to grips with it. (NOT!) Anyway, can someone please identify the time bandit that is stealling all my time.

Martin Luther was said to have spent three hours a day in prayer. No, its not a typo. Three whole hours. Imagine if you and I had a prayer life like that. I wonder if those times that I asked God to answer a certain prayer, and I thought it went unanswered, that He was trying to get to me, but i neglected to spend enough time in prayer so I could here His voice. No I am not becoming a legalist, trying to convince you to pray for three hours everyday. I am however, wanting you and I to realize the amount of time we waste everyday doing mundane tasks.

For example, did you know the average person wastes eight months of their lives opening junk mail. We also waste two years of our lives playing phone tag with friends and relatives. If that doesn’t make you sick this surely will. We waste five years of our lives waiting for people who are late for appointments with us through out our lifetime.

A.W. Tozer said this, “time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up, or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day, when it’s lost its un-reoverable.” The Apostle Paul says it best in Ephesians 5:15-17. Pay careful attention, then how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise. Making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord’s is.

I am on vacation on the Island of Antigua in the Carribean.  As we left the airport, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of poverty that is on the island.  Most of the houses are the size of living rooms up north.  I saw children walking from school, some as young as my Denay who is 6.  Lots of people were sitting on porches or simply standing in their yards.  Once we reached the resort, there were tons of folks who worked serving others for a living.  All of these people seem to be living what I call the simple life.  There were no big houses, or expensive cars that I saw.  No one stood out because of their designer clothing.  I don’t even think there is a mall there.  And yet everyone is frendly and has a smile on their face.  No one seems to be stressed out or in a hurry.  Could it be they have the secret to the simple life.

As I pondered over these thoughts while looking out into the carribean sea, I thought God desires all of us to live the simple life.  But what would that look like back in the states.  Especially Boston, where everyone is in a hurry to get some where.  So I have come up with four keys to the simple life. 

1. Put God first.  He is the reason we are able to live and move and have our being.  If He is not first we will put other less important things there that will utimately stress us out.

2. Commit to spiritual disciplines.  Bible reading, prayer and fasting.  These will help you to keep your eyes on Jesus, and off the world.  The world is contantly trying to squeeze us into its mold.  We must resist the temptation to compare ourselves with the world. 

3. Renew your mind.  All permenant change can only take place by changing your perception of reality.  We tend to think we deserve more than we do.  When the truth is the only thing we all deserve is death.  But thank God, through His Son Jesus Christ that we have been forgiven.

4. Learn contentment.  Paul said I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret to being content whether well feed or hungry, whether living with plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  God promises to provide all of our needs not our greeds.

So I will end with this question, are you living the simple life, or does your life seem to be on big mess after another?  

Well it has been almost a week and I still feel a lump in my stomach.  18 and 1 can you believe it.  What an amazing season.  I don’t think there will ever be another one like it for a long time.  But many will try to tear down what was accomplished due to the controversy surrounding the team. To that all I can say is, when you are on top no body wants to see you stay there.  Even some of the people who were cheering you on, will root against you after awhile.

There are so many spiritual lessons to be learned from our near perfect season, however the main one that keeps coming to my mind is the idea of finishing strong.  The Apostle Paul said, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)  Paul was a finisher.

Now lets look at King Solomon.  He had a good father.  He received good advice.  He made a good request.  He performed good projects.  He even had a good prayer life.  He started life off good.  The only problem, he neglected to finish strong. (1 Kings 11)

See it doesn’t matter how good the season was, by next year it will be a distant memory.  The only thing that people will remember is that we neglected to finish strong.

May God bless you to finish strong.  So that when your life is over and you are standing in front of Him, you will hear the words, well done My good and faithful servant.  That is the only thing that matters in life.

Man, where does the time go?  I seem to have lost the last eight weeks.  That is how long it has been since my last blog.  James 4:14 comes to mind, For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

 Well new years is a time for reflection. The month of January was named after the Roman god Janus.  Who was said to have two heads.  One looking into the past and the other into the future.  Many of us make resolutions to be better in some aspect of our lives.  Usually, however, many resolutions go unfulfilled.

With that in mind I would like to challenge you instead of making another year of resolutions, lets just take the time to have self-examination.  2 Corinthians 13:5 says, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless you are disqualified.

See it doesn’t matter what you want to do in life.  It only matters what you do that counts.  Maybe this year if we look to see exactly where our lives are, we will realize we need to change in some areas.  

There is a quote that I have read two different times from two different sources this new year that sums it up perfectly I think.  “All permanent change in your life takes place by altering your perception of reality.” 

I was thinking the other day how said it was to see Marion Jones have to give back her five gold medals.  She was also fined $100,000 and is banned from the sport for two years.  She could also face up to one year in jail.  If that isn’t bad enough, they are asking that her relay team also give back their medals.

 Why does it seem that we have to hit rock bottom to learn our lessons.  You would think that she would know better, especially since her ex-husband was busted for the same thing, as well as her baby’s daddy who is another track and field star.

I heard someone say, sin will take you further than you want to go.  It will cost you more than you want to spend, and will keep you longer than you want to stay.  Hidden areas of sin will always be exposed in our lives. Not only do they affect us, they affect our loved ones as well.  Do you have hidden sin in your life? 

Galatians 6:7 Do not be decieved; God is not mocked.  For whatever a man sows he will also reap.  Because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.