The Pastor's Perspective

            I have always been artsy, and I love to draw and watch programs about drawing and art. Growing up, one show always captivated me: "The Joy of Painting" with Bob Ross. With his gentle voice and signature afro, Bob would transform a blank canvas into breathtaking landscapes, complete with "happy little trees" and "friendly little clouds." What truly mesmerized me was his ability to take what looked like a blob of paint, or what seemed like an accidental smudge, and turn it into a majestic mountain or a shimmering lake. When he started off you might have thought "well he done ruined it" then by the end you were left mesmerized. He'd often say, with a reassuring smile, "There are no mistakes, just happy little accidents."      Don't we often feel like we've made a mess of things in our own lives? In 45 years of living here on this earth I will be the first one to say that I have had my fair share of  mistakes. There ...

       One question that I have heard many times before and you may have heard this question before. You may have even asked this question yourself. It's a question that many people ask after certain traumatic events. Events like the New Orleans attack this past week  where 14 people were killed.       That question goes something like this "Why would God allow Good people to suffer?" or "Why do bad things happen to good people?"      I remember a couple of years back I had a conversation with a man who was asking that very question. Which gave me an opportunity to share with him a few things that I have learned both from God's word and my own personal experiences with grief and hardships.     The first thing I remember telling that man was that one of the major reasons why bad things happen is because we are filled with bad people. This man view point was that God was the source of all these troubles. In fact many ti...

   A little girl was walking in the cemetery with her aunt one day. She was examining the various gravestones. When suddenly she cried out, "Oh, auntie, look here! Here is the tomb of some poor person who has not gone to heaven." This took the Aunt by surprise and she asked "Not gone to heaven?" She then turned to look at what her niece was referring to. The grave stone she was looking at was an elaborate monument with weeping angels sculptured in marble. The monument was very pretty and was decorated with various flowers. So the aunt being a bit confused asked  "Why, what do you mean?" "Well, auntie," said the child, "the person in the grave cannot have gone to heaven, or the angels would not be crying!"     Honestly, that girl was right.       There are a lot of things about heaven we really cannot know for sure. We can't know what exactly Heaven will look like. The bible gives us a few descriptions and while it is helpful the wor...