Throughout history men have worshiped many false gods, and today is no different. Probably the most popular false god of modern times would be the "sports god". Think about the way we raise our children to worship this false god. We will spend more time and effort to get them involved and interested in sports then we do in teaching them the Word of God. In essence we are telling them, "this is what is really important." We will rush around with more excitement and punctuality to get them to participate in practice and the game than we ever would to get them to church, not to mention the fact that Americans are rarely so strict about our children devoting a moment of the day to devotional reading of the Bible. Fact is, most families in the US have lives that revolve around their childrens' sports programs more than their spiritual life.

Now don't get me wrong, God does not frown upon sports. It's my belief that He invented sports as a diversion for us to pass time, get exercise, and learn to work together. However He does not want humans to replace worship for Him with worship for sports, and sports heroes.

We all have different convictions and I definitely had to surrender to my own convictions of NASCAR. I would do anything to watch a race and plan around the events, even church. But as I experienced in my own life I realized I could grow and be what God wanted me to be when I begin to put him first and plan around him. Its sad to see that the church is put on hold during football season so we can fit in all the events surrounding football while the season last. The thing is God doesn’t put you on hold for anything. He has a direct link to your life through the Holy Spirit. We have become Numb to the convictions because of the excitement of the Sports god.
Psalm 115:8 has an alarming commentary on the worship of false gods. It says:
"Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."

If you are upset by these words, well then maybe there is your conviction because I just tapped a nerve about something so near and deer to your heart. How you react is up to you.

Enjoy your sports and have fun but don’t put off your chance to plug into church, get involved, and grow. You may find out that you will grow even more as a result of taking time off from a season of football. I know I just said a curse word to some people. Lets set a good example for our children to grow and put the Lord who gave His all for you and me.

I was talking to Daddy today and in his presence just the sheer utterance of silence came across me, I began to to wonder what was next in my time with him. I wanted to hear his voice clearly and know what was next for my life. As I was praying and seeking his voice I began to remember a time where I wanted something from my father as a young teenage boy, I was trying to figure out what I could do to convince him that I really needed this tool that would help me expand my talents as a young artist. I had mentioned several times about this airbrush I wanted a while back. But he never got the hint I guess. I wanted this airbrush so bad and it cost a lot of money at the time. So I continued to think of ways that I could get my father to buy it for me. I was willing to clean the garage which nobody liked to do. And by the looks of it you would know why. Junk piled upon junk, tools scattered everywhere. Old fishing poles and camping gear just thrown anywhere and not to mention the birds-nest of wires and cables from God only knows where. So I approached my father and he said he wanted to talk to me any way. and he began to speak but I interrupted him and said “dad, dad” I have something to ask you. He said hold on let me tell you something. I told him but I want to ask you something. I was anxious to get my words out first before he would lose focus on what I wanted to ask him. After several attempts of him trying to tell me something I kept on shouting to him “DAD”! I want you to get me something and I will clean out the Garage. He got silent and said what do you want, I told him about the airbrush again but this time I told him I could earn money selling airbrushed items. He said “Ted that air brush cost a lot of money”. I said yes dad but I will clean the garage for you and mom. He said fine, go ahead and we will see what we can do. Usually that meant “go ahead and clean and no you can’t have it”. So I took my chances and I worked hard, it was in the summer time, it was hot and I was determined to get this project done so I could get my airbrush. It took me all day sweating and filthy dirt covering me. But finally at eleven at night I had finished. I was so tired and I didn’t even care about the airbrush anymore at this time. I didn’t even want a shower. I crawled in the bed and fell asleep. I woke back up Saturday morning and smelling pretty ripe at this point. I got up enough energy to get in the shower and when I was done and dressed my father called me into the kitchen. He said Ted, I said yes dad. He said I wanted to tell you something last night but couldn’t get a word in to you because you were so worked up on your air brush. He said I just wanted to tell you I love you and how proud of you I am. I wanted you to know that because I don’t think you really know. Your always busy and going a hundred miles an hour. But I wanted you to know this and he handed me a bag with a box in it. It was the airbrush I wanted with several bottles of paint. He said I had gotten this for you monday night Ted and I wanted to give it to you last night. I was speechless. mostly because my foot was still in my mouth from last night.
I realize now that sometimes we need to listen first before asking Aba Father. We should take time to fast and just listen. When we fast we don’t have to do some special task, but we do need to clean our hearts and minds of everything so that we can hear his voice. When we fast it is not to get something from God but for God to give us what he wants us to have out of love. Because he is proud of you and loves you unconditionally. Slow down and FAST. You never know what God will give you. He might not give you anything but love. I realized after my father said what he said, it didn’t matter if he had gotten me the airbrush I wanted or not. His words of love and encouragement were just what I needed and wanted more than anything. Jesus just wants us to listen and soak in his presence and receive what he has for us. There are no costs to us, just discipline, and submission is what allows God to give us what he wants to.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). Your time of fasting will be rewarding and what you receive from God your father will be more that what you could have asked for.

I have found something new to play with in my life of creativity, I have discovered the power of Chroma green and the use video together. Being an artist and graphic designer I have now taped into a whole another world of creativity behind the camera. This is something that I enjoy doing on the side of ministry. God has blessed me with this gift and I have always wondered how the two would come together. Any way back to the Chroma or other words known as Green Screen, I have begun to let my creative juices flow and it is dangerous. Well I am not really a dangerous person by nature but this whole green screen has captivated my attention to the fullest of my creative juices. I have a thirteen year old daughter Whitney who likes to work with photography and she enjoys altering photos and such. So I figured we would spend some father daughter time during her spring break playing around with this green screen effects. We went to the fabric store and bought some bright green canvas and began to let our minds flow with creativity. We began to experiment with different shots. The initial process of green screen is shooting some video of background first and then shooting some video of your subject against the green screen or in our case our newly purchased green canvas. We all know that Spiderman is not real but now a days they make him seem so real. So I wanted to make the first ever teenage spider woman. I shot video of a brick wall as I was climbing the ladder looking down. Then I shot some video of my daughter A.K.A. spider woman crawling toward me like spider man on her hands and feet. I then preceded to bring the two together and told the computer to remove the green background and wha la, you have spider woman crawling up the wall. We had so much fun making short twenty second clips of her floating in the sky, pretending to be something we weren't. Great time of bonding and this all made me think of what the Psalmist said in Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
Be yourself, base off your relationship with God. Not what the wicked do. Even though pretending is fun and using it towards creativity, there is a lot of this going on in the church today. We are not being what God wants us to be. We are not being the church Christ is coming back for because we are caught up in the imagination of the worldly things that corrupt us. The junk we see on T.V. or listen to on the radio is simply that, JUNK. Not everyone falls into this but the church is failing to make our voice heard and take a stand for Christ Jesus. The bible says in Isaiah 42:111 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.
We cannot sit silent and just let the world go by and watch our children and teens the church of today be corrupted by fantasy, lies and deception. Creativity is a gift from God and it should be used to Glorify him not distort the message and mislead our world.