Jason speaks...

Are you a Watchman?…am I?

Jason Davis — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:26:58 +0000

It seems as though the older I become the more concerned I become for the salvation of those without Christ. Let me also state honestly that I cannot say that I’m ready to trade my salvation for another person’s eternal separation from the Uncreated One as Paul did in Romans 9:3. And just to ease your mind, I, nor Paul for that matter, think that this is actually an option. What I do believe is that the call from God to salvation is irresistible (John 6:44), that many will be invited but few will be called (Matthew 22:14), and that the role of a Christian is to provide an unsaved person with the opportunity to respond to that call. Please consider the following:

“And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand. Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.”” Ezekiel 33:1-7 NASB

I think Ezekiel 33 is fairly clear…every Christian has the responsibility to be a Watchman…One who warns others about the coming judgment of God. With that said, let this be your warning from me: Whether you’re a “good person” or not, if you die without Christ, you’ll die perpetually in a Christ-less Hell. I truly don’t know any other way to put it. I also know that if you’re still reading by this point, you’re probably not the person who needs to hear this! But if you’re looking for a reason to turn to God, let the reading of this post be it, and remember, “‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live…’” Ezekiel 33:11

3 Fives + 18 Quarters

Jason Davis — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:24:33 +0000

On the way to Mobile, we found ourselves approaching the GA400 Tollbooth with no quarters. As I slid into the “Cashier” lane, Anne passes me a $20 bill…how would she or I know how much trouble this would cause?

After the three cars in front of me make it through without incident, I’m feeling confident and ready to get back in the flow of traffic. I see the woman who is to be my cashier…definitely middle aged and perhaps middle eastern. She seems nice enough and more than capable of performing the duties required of a tollbooth cashier that has to deal with the typical late-for-work Atlanta commuter. I see that she has two quarters in each hand, obviously expecting me to hand her a $1 bill allowing her to deposit two quarters for the toll and to give me two quarters. Wasn’t she in for a surprise?

As my $20 bill slipped from my hand to hers, I started thinking about the what distribution of U.S. Currency that I would get back. A minute or so later the cashier is turning back to face me with her hands poised as if she is going offer to allow me to drink of water straight from her hands. Realizing that something just was not right about this, I put my hands out in the same fashion thinking that if she was handing me a rattlesnake at least it wouldn’t bite me in the face. Soon she was making her deposit into my hands, and with my new understanding of what was going on I waited for her eyes to meet mine.

She didn’t bother recounting my change…and I didn’t bother checking her math. When it was done I had a double handful of change…three $5 bills and eighteen $0.25 pieces…and her looking at my disbelief as if she was surprised. What would you do?

Four Years to the day.

Jason Davis — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:18:17 +0000

Today marks four years to the day that Anne and I were married. What a day that was, and what an adventure it has been since then. Each time we spend time together it seems new…she thinks soooo much deeper than I; she is way more mature than the 25 years she has lived. Her abilities as a wife, mother, and home maker are nothing short of unbelievable. My sustained interest, and perhaps what intrigues me most, is what makes her smile. And to get a smile is worth whatever costs or sacrifices are involved. God has blessed me most through her and our love, and us through two wonderful children.

First trip to the Georgia Aquarium…Second set of tickets

Jason Davis — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:27:42 +0000

Anne, the Girls, and I went to the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday with Dan, Ashley, and Barrett. Anne and I tried to go once before…meaning we purchased group tickets when Anne was 5 months pregnant with Grace thinking that she would be able to go when she was 7 months. Needless to say, we couldn’t go and the Georgia Aquarium doesn’t do refunds.

Either way, we went and we were not alone. It was packed; every exhibit had young and old alike pressed to the glass in a way I’ve only seen two other times. Oddly enough, both of these occurred at the nursury at Northside Hospital in Sandy Springs. Without a doubt, if they put 15-20 newborn babies in a room with a 5′ diameter circular window I guarantee you couldn’t tell the difference. Regardless, we had a great time and I enjoyed spending time with our family. It’s no secret that I like fish and I like to fish for fish, but I found myself finding more enjoyment out of the excitement of the others than from the hundreds of species on exhibit. It was a good way to spend a Saturday, especially since we know it will be one of the last before Dan & Ashley become Mobillians.

The Easter Post

Jason Davis — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:09:51 +0000

Since Easter is upon us, and despite the fact that I really don’t have the time to write, I feel compelled to write about what Easter means to me. Do you ever think about it? Easter egg hunts, candy everywhere you look, those innocent yet somehow scary Easter Bunnies, the Springtime setting, and everything, regardless of what color it is the rest of the year, painted in pastels. It doesn’t exactly seem to fit the occasion, does it? After all, it’s the time of the year when us Christians recognize the single, most amazing event in history…when Jesus Christ, the Word that was with God from the beginning and the Holy Son of God, provided the ultimate sacrifice. I hope that doesn’t sound sterile to you. I can’t even say “Have a Happy Easter” without considering the cost of my salvation.

The word is “sacrifice,” and if you think about it, I bet you hear it and say it more than you realize. You sacrificed an evening to help a friend move, the game was won on a sacrifice fly to left field…stated simply, something was given up for the benefit of something else. It’s a calculated trade, performed consciously, knowing ahead of time that the outcome was worth the period of loss. Understanding “sacrifice” from a Biblical perspective can be slightly more difficult considering the sacrifice rules and regs of the who, what, when, where, and why contained in Jewish history. To simplify this, please consider Genesis 3. Adam and Eve had disobeyed God. In turn, God made Adam and Eve “coats of skin” to cover their nakedness, which cost the blood of innocent life. To summarize, this is basic rule…the wages of sin is death. Lucky for me, God accepts substitutionary payment…a sacrifice, if you will.

The payment for my sins was the blood shed on Calvary’s cross by Jesus Christ. I call it the Ultimate Sacrifice. It’s the ultimate because from the beginning God wanted my worship and loyalty…not my sacrifice. When I sinned against Him, not only did He make the provision of sacrifice, but He provided Himself a lamb for offering (Genesis 22:8). The blameless sacrifice would be His Son, His only Son, Jesus, whom He loved(Genesis 22:2), and He took the wood of the offering and laid it upon Him (Genesis 22:6). And now for the kicker…have you ever heard of the phrase “like a lamb to the slaughter?” You know, the concept that the lamb, unwarrily and happily, is led to its death…Well, this does not characterize the death of Christ. “They went both of them together” (Genesis 22:6, 8 KJV)…the Father and the Son in complete and thorough agreement. How complete was Christ’s understanding? I feel confident in providing Luke 22:44 as proof of total understanding, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.“…trust me, He knew.

Now I’m ready to explain what Easter means to me. In the Old Testament, a veil stood between man and the presence (Shekinah) of God. The veil, made of blue, purple, and scarlet material as well as fine twisted linen, might have been as much as 60 feet high and 4 inches thick and was reportedly strong enough that horses could not pull it apart. Similarly, my sin separated me from God. When Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, it was recorded in Mark 15:38 that, “…the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.,” effectively breaking the barrier between Man and God, “from top to bottom” or “from God to us.” This is not the end of the story, yet for so many in our society it is. They believe that Christ came, lived, and was crucified…even that He removed all barriers between them and God…but not that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and not that the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14).

What Easter is to me is found in Hebrews 10:19-22: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” The old veil is gone, the “new veil” is Christ, and no man can come to the Father, but by Him (John 14:6). Easter reminds me that my faith and hope of eternal salvation is in Him who “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20 KJV) His name is Jesus.

Hello world!

Jason Davis — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:28:15 +0000

I couldn’t bring myself to delete the “Hello World!” post that came with the installation of WordPress. It reminds me of Mrs. Mary Eager’s AP Computer Science class in which the very first exercise that I remember was to use the class software to write a program whose sole purpose was to return the text “Hello World!” to the screen for my reading enjoyment. Isn’t it amazing the things that we take for granted when we use today’s technologies?

Either way, this is it…the first entry. While others may say that a “Hello World!” post is juvenile…I think that it’s a good place to start, leaving me plenty of room for blogging improvement.