God

One of the promises of God, made to all who receive it, is the eventual entry into the place where God resides. Christians, and others, refer to that place as heaven. The heavenly hosts are there. Angels, who never knew the joy that our salvation brings, are there. Every person we have known and who trusted in God for eternal life is in paradise, the perfect waiting room prior to the entry into Heaven. A more sentimental awareness reminds us that those we loved on the deepest human emotional level possible, and who have died as followers of Christ, are there.

Editor's note: This is the second column in a series on prayer. We are looking at Matthew 6, at what is referred to as the Lord's prayer, but should really be called the disciple's prayer. The prayer found in the Gospel of John, chapter 17, would fit that description better. The Lord taught His disciples to pray - not that they would pray like a parrot, repeating the same words over and over again, or like a disobedient child asking over and over again, until he gets what he wants from his parent.

A battle for control of the Church of God of America Inc. has been underway since the organization's main worship house and headquarters on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Danville burned to the ground on Jan. 31, 2010, and $918,000 in insurance money was collected.  Now the feud has moved from the church's pews and meeting halls into the courtroom. Three Somerset men who identify themselves as church elders and trustees and claim to represent the church itself, along with 27 people identified as church members, have filed a lawsuit in Boyle Circuit Court alleging that Tim Napier, bishop and president of the church, and three others have misappropriated church funds for their own use while acting without proper authority to rebuild the church in Danville and locking the doors of sister churches in Somerset and Shelbyville.

Is it harder to be perfect or imperfect? A safe answer might lie in the conclusion that it is much harder to be imperfect. To live with imperfection extracts a daily toll and accumulates a growing indebtedness that can never be paid. Those who strive for perfected living are hard on themselves. Whatever is undertaken is never good enough. They are tormented and are led to quiet desperation with their inability to have everything they touch be seen as perfected idealism. Haunted by the consistent evaluation of the “failed” work, these idealists often fall into despondency,  judge themselves as frauds and wonder if people think of them as such.

Editor's note: In October, 2012, a story was published in The Advocate-Messenger about Rejoice Temple of Praise in Moreland raising money to help their pastor, Charles Daugherty and his wife Andrea Daugherty pay for his alternative cancer treatments in Colorado. We want to thank you and may God continue to bless you all. To our family and our church family at Rejoice Temple of Praise, we want to thank them for their hard work, sacrifice and expressions of love they have shown to Pastor Daugherty and me. My Timberland and Staffmark families are awesome!

Every soul who was or will be born has within them the image of God. To have some embryonic sense of the likeness of God is to see that each of us was born with that image. This fact is, or should be, the great denominator for understanding and evaluating where each of us stands in His presence. We have been made to be a part of what He is. At birth He dwelt within us and remains as we mature He will invite us to accept Him as One who has redeemed us from a sinful nature and gives us the grace of forgiveness.

While the people of Vicco, KY can be commended for protecting the rights of all citizens and taking care of their own people, we would be remiss to allow an emotion-packed letter or anything else to determine what is the standard for right and wrong. In fact, neither Chicago, New York City, or Washington can do that. No congressional law, Supreme Court ruling or even the President has that right. They can give their opinions like the writer of this article but that does not determine what is true nor what is right.

Arthur Lee Parido, 67, of Winchester, husband of Sandra “Sandy” Sutton Parido, passed away on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at the Hospice Care Center in Lexington.  Mr. Parido was born in Clark County on Nov. 11, 1945, to the late Ernest and Chestina Johnson Parido. He was a retired lawn service owner and a member of the Trinity Church of God. In addition to his wife, he is survived by five children, Mark Parido (Heather) of Winchester, Rebecca Parks (Gary) of Richmond, and Dina Crowe (Robert)