The Devil knows your name but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin but calls you by your name.
Love is the language we as believers must speak. Galatians 3:26 says we are ALL children of God. The spirit of God is Love. I would be as bold as to say that if you are unable to love, you likely are not a Christian. I know that sounds harsh, but the word Christian comes from "little Christ," meaning we operate and behave with the same spirit as our Savior.
Sometimes in life, my failures speak louder than my victories and I need to be constantly reminded that though my enemies surround me, my God surrounds my enemies. If we're truly honest, we've had to mentally battle failures or fears more than once in our lives.
I believe the role of the Christian today is to show the world the love of Jesus. I know that may sound overly simplistic, but the Church has gotten too accustomed to judging. We need to get back to the basics of our walk with Jesus and let the overflow of that relationship translate into really caring for and loving people.
I do know that the effect of the tremendous cutbacks on education that we're seeing are going to create a major problem for the country if we don't provide the opportunity to a huge swath of our society. These impacts are going to have an effect across national security, it's going to have an effect across our social services, and of course on the economy, in broad terms. So there is, I think, at least a level of concern that we ought to have at this point in our history.
Mercy - whatever people need from God.
I write and produce what is on my heart - whatever I'm going through and whatever God is taking me through, and I've been blessed to have people record, produce and buy our music. I'm a Christian man who happens to be Latino, not a Latino who happens to be a Christian.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I watched helplessly as the Bush administration led America into a strategic blunder of historic proportions. It became painfully obvious that the executive branch of our government did not trust its military. It relied instead on a neoconservative ideology developed by men and women with little, if any, military experience. Some senior military leaders did not challenge civilian decision makers at the appropriate times, and the courageous few who did take a stand were subsequently forced out of the service.
I do think in the present state of both the Church and society we have a long way to go toward accepting and loving others that look or act differently than we do.
I've never been intimidated to write music, to minister through leading worship, preaching or teaching, or even writing a book or acting. Who knows what God will put before me? Regardless, my heart is settled and content doing what I love to do above all things.
What I think I represent is a patriot who has no political baggage behind him that has dedicated his entire life to serving America and all segments of our citizenship. I think I bring an element of appeal to a very broad spectrum of Texans to include veterans, the middle class, the lower class and the Hispanic population, obviously. But, also, I think there is this leadership quality that has to be taken into consideration.
I figured, I am a product of the opportunity the country provided, and I understand the challenges of the middle class and the lower class, and I clearly understand the dynamics at the highest levels of wealth within the country and across this global world. It became clear to me that I could represent the people of Texas - I could represent those people, that segment of society that I came from.
The key thing is that I've led a life of service to country that gave me perspectives that most people don't get, having been involved in international and national decision-making and the accomplishment of national and international political and diplomatic and military objectives.
My assessment is that we have a crisis in national political leadership. When will America recognize the danger we face? When will the corrosive partisanship of American politics end and allow for a bipartisan solution to arguably the most dangerous threat our nation has faced in over 60 years?
