The Kentucky Derby is the biggest horse race in the entire world.  I had the opportunity to visit Churchill Downs on a road trip last summer.  Rich and I got to watch the races on a huge screen surrounded by decades of racing memorabilia.  The horse were huge.  The noise of the crowd was deafening.  The number of bets were astronomical.  But there is a moment where none of that matters.

The gate.

It’s where it all begins.  It relative silence.  A hush comes over the crowd.  You can hear the horses breathe.  You can hear the jockeys whisper.  You can hear the owners pray.  And then they’re off.  The race has begun.

But the truth is, the gate isn’t the starting line.  The race hasn’t just begun.  It began years earlier… 3 years to be exact.  From day one, the owner trains and exercises his prized possession.  He breaks her and he leads her.  He saddles his horse, he picks he jockey, he rents a track.  He hires a groomer, and a trainer, and a feed boy.  It’s all about hard work.  Training.  Conditioning.  Growth.  Health.  Strength.  Vision.  Strategy.  Character.  Desire.  Passion.  Violent passion.  Breathless abandon.  No, the gate isn’t truly the beginning-  it’s just another day at the races.

Maybe God has you coming up to the gate.  Are you ready to run?

Last night at basketball, Rich and I were talking with 2 teenage guys and they were asking us about marriage.  Then one of the guys goes “dude, which one of your wives is hotter?”

I told him “well, Rich is sorta biased towards his wife, and I’m sorta biased towards my wife.”

He goes “man, bring them both in and I’ll decide.”

But it’s not up to him to decide.  It’s not his place.  It’s not his right.  In fact, this way of thinking breaks the heart of God and will ruin the way he views women.

Have you ever heard of Hot or Not?  It’s unbelievable that a site like this actually exists.  Basically, people upload pictures, others vote on who’s hot and who’s not, and then arrange hookups with those who are.  So far they’ve had over 26 million photos uploaded, 12 billion votes, and 68,000 hookups.  It’s completely disgusting.

Here’s why: we have no right to determine who is hot and who is not. Who you are attracted to is very different from those around you.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Another way of saying it: The spouse determines the sexiness.  But let’s take it a step further…

Not only is it not up to you to determine who is hot, it’s also not your place to say that someone is ugly.  Why?  BECAUSE GOD MADE THEM AND LOVES THEM.  They may not be beautiful to you, but they are adored by a man much greater than you will ever be.

When you stare/lust/ogle a ‘gorgeous’ girl, you’re mentally undressing a daughter of the King.

When you write-off/make fun of/ignore an ‘ugly’ girl, you’re rejecting God’s most miraculous creation.

And it doing so, you reject the Creator.

Be honest guys, we treat good-looking girls better than we do the not-so-pretty ones.  It’s wrong.  Besides, if we were truly being men of God and looking them directly in the eyes, we wouldn’t even notice their imperfections. Don’t you dare declare yourself a judge of beauty…that seat does not belong to you. There is only one woman that you can place above all others, and you can’t do that until you get a job and put a ring on her finger.

Stop rejecting your Creator.  You owe Him more than that.  I dare you to treat every woman with the same level of respect, honour, and love that they are due…  you owe it to their Father.

I got an email through the Chat Line this week that I thought I’d share with you.  Call it a guest post…thanks Stephanie!

I am reading through Genesis right now, and I am just coming to an end on Noah and his ark.  Even after Joy last summer and the whole week focusing on Noah, I am constantly amazed at what God did.

But it shocks me that our amazing and wonderful God would wipe out a whole world and all that was on it.  Many people seem to skip over how rotten the world had become.   A lot of non-believers seem to favour this as an example, “well if your God is so great, why did he flood the earth??”.

Can you really blame him?!

Yesterday, I was at the mall and was about to go to my car.  A man approached me and explained that his name was Robert, him and his wife were from Chatham area and he was down in London getting surgery on his leg, (he then raised his pant leg to show me a fake metal leg).  He continued on to say that they were living in a motel and they only were surviving off of food stamps.  He didnt want money, just two subs; one for him and one for his wife (who was not present).  I was quickly praying in my head asking, ‘God guide me here, I need to first believe he is honest and true before I assume the worst.’ We walked into the mall, and he ordered two twelve inch subs.  I am a student at university.. I do not have money for two twelve inch subs!!  But, I bit my tongue and thought, ‘Lord, you love him, I need to help him.’ He said thank you many times, the usual ‘Godbless you sweetheart’ and then went on his way.

Later, as I was tellinig my friend this story, she was able to start it for me.  “Was his name Rob?  From Chatham? Fake leg?’  Mouth gaping wide open, I nodded.  “yea, he stopped my friend and me at a bank in September and used the EXACT same story‘

IT DISGUSTS ME!  This man flat out lied to me, and would take money and food from teenage girls.  Why do people do that?? I was actually heartbroken.

(I’m not saying we shouldn’t help those in need, I only say this to point out that we all need help)

Our humanity has gotten so bad, that in in my opinion, God needs to send another flood.  All these civil wars in Africa and the war in Iraq, sex trafficking, rape, murders, stealing, lying, etc.. it’s disturbing that we are ruining the world we have been given as a gift.  Why are we all like this? All of us have sinned.  And to God, every sin is seen equal in his eye.

(Thank God for grace!)

If everyone strived to be like Jesus, the world would be good and God would be proud.  I just pray for humankind; that we find it in our hearts to be more like Jesus.  It’s so heart-breaking to know that people are thinking the worst of people instead of the best, and when they do think the best; you are disappointed to find out that they weren’t.

In every scenario, in every minute of the day, we must ask ourselves ‘What would Jesus do?’

The whole world could use some help…and this is how change truly happens.

Today is the first post by Aaron McCartney.  He’ll be blogging at the Sex Rev twice a month or so.  Make sure you say hello!

“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.”

Think is the first thing that caught my eye while reading God’s word about a month and a half ago, and it’s still rocking my world. I’ve read Romans many times, and this verse has never struck anything inside at all. It was the phrase “a slave of Jesus Christ.” So, doing what any human this side of the universe would do, I jumped on Google and typed in “define:slave”.

These were some things that stuck out:
1. Nowhere in any definition did it say slaves worked for free.
2. Slaves were loyal to their masters.
3. Slaves were very hard workers.

Then it really hit me: God even had a good intention for slavery. As humans, we have put holes in the ozone. God intended our World to be a beautiful place, a place where everywhere we look we see God’s creation, not steel factories and strip joints. We also have created bad intentions and ideas for marriage. God intended marriage to be a harmonious unity of bodies that are one.

As humans, we messed up the actual meaning of slavery. God didn’t mean it to be torture, abuse, and harassment of “workers” who are sold and bought with no wages, barely any food and clothing, and crappy sleeping areas. God meant it to mean loyalty, working for a master and while expecting nothing, given good clothes, good food, and a private room for the deeds the slave does for his or her master.

We need to sell ourselves into slavery, just as Paul did, and do it God’s way. How does this apply to us? We have to die to ourselves and be alive in Jesus. That’s the basis of being a follower of Christ. For guys, that means living pure, leading your spouse, fiance, girlfriend. That means living in God’s Word and letting it bleed out of you. For girls, that means cover your bodies. I don’t want other guys to see my fiance’s cleavage. That’s for me in marriage; that’s off-limits, for no one else to see. Girls, save yourself the heartache. If enough guys date you because you’re exposing your double-Ds, eventually you will have a DD heart: Done like Dinner.

It`s not worth it!

Someday I want to be able to say “My name is Aaron McCartney, and I am a slave of Jesus Christ”. I pray to my Father that you can too.

Aaron

You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, act like it.

Gentlemen, we need to throw down. It’s time to give up your personal quest for fame, notoriety, power, money, and women. All will destroy your life.

Life was not meant to be a theme park of pleasure. You weren’t put on earth to please yourself (though God knows you’re doing a great job).

God created you to fall in love with Him. God designed you to lead others closer to Him. God desires for you to think His thoughts. He planned for you to live out His dreams.

Will you be the one who stops enjoying himself and starts pleasing his King?