Can You Handle the Truth?

Dear Friends --

If I had asked you two years ago if I had died would I have gone to heaven or hell what would you have said? How about one year ago? More than likely you would have said without a doubt I would have gone to heaven. You would have thought there is no way that me a good person who doesn’t say bad words or drink and goes to church would have gone anywhere else. How would you know for sure?

How much would it have mattered to you really?

Would it alarm you if I told you that without a doubt for a time I was not living for the Lord with all my heart? The fact is I am not a good person. “God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 53:2-3).

I was not living the born again life that is required to receive the kingdom of God (John 3:3). I was not consistently repenting of my sins and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who gave me life. I was floating along with good intentions but not really following Him. I was lying, I was putting other things before the Lord, I was an adulterer at heart, and I wasn’t keeping the Sabbath holy. Most of all, I wasn’t fighting to keep these things that the Lord commands we must if we love Him out of my life.

To inherit everlasting life you must fully surrender to the Lord. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) You might think wow that’s great for you….but I’m fine. How do you know you are fine? That’s what I thought too. You might say, “I know in my heart that everything is okay.” How can you trust your heart when the Lord says the heart is deceitfully wicked? Do you think you are a good person? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken God’s name in vain? Have you looked with lust at another person? Is the Lord the most important thing in your life? Have you kept the Sabbath holy? The Bible says all liars will have their part in the lake of fire and that all fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, drunkards, thieves, greedy, slanderers and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God.

How much does it matter to you? Your eternal salvation and mine matters to me. I care about it greatly and know that it is my duty out of love and concern to speak the truth. Our Lord and Savior cares even more. He wants you to love Him. He wants you with Him for eternity. This is why He died a bloody death on the cross to forgive us of our sins. He forgives anything we have done no matter how large or small. Our choice is whether we are we going to turn away from sin completely and not look back and to put our trust in the Lord. That is the difference between life and death.

Would you sell one of your eyes for a million dollars? I wouldn’t. My sight is precious to me. How much more important then is your soul that looks out of those eyes? Today is the day of true repentance. Today is the day of salvation.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? (Hebrews 12:25)

Have you turned your life over to Him with the full knowledge that you are going to heaven when you die?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

Repent. Trust and believe.

Need help regarding true Christianity? Read the book of 1 John in the Bible. Also, if you need some help on where to start with repentance read and pray Psalm 51.



I love and care for each one of you. To Him be the glory.

At the Cross

By: Hillsong United

End of Summer Countdown

It was a great summer for the Heaton Family!

Here's a list of our top ten things we did this summer and tribute to the end of summer 2007:

1) We got a new car! Yea, no more mini-vans....EVER! Here's to a brand new, not leased Hyundai Santa Fe (notice the purposely selected AGGIE color)! Gig 'em Aggies!



2) Alas, I found out that I have a SEVERE allergy to dust mites and mountain cedar. So that's what has been bothering me since birth. Who knew! I think dust mites are the worst thing to be allergic to -- you can never totally get rid of it. The allergist recommended no ceiling fans. No ceiling fans in Texas -- they must be crazy! They also recommended dust mite covers for all mattresses, pillows and box springs, washing your sheets 2 or more times a week, vacuuming constantly, nose sprays, antihistamines, no fabric covered furniture, and no carpet. I recommend prayer and giving your allergies to Jesus for healing!

3) Parker informs me that he is not going to eat carrots until he turns 4-years-old. Well, buddy, that is only two months away so get ready boy!

4) As you know we have been discussing the 10 commandments and how important they are to the Lord. This summer we have been addressing lying. Needless to say, Beth now knows the truth about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. The truth will set you free....

5) Beth enjoyed a full summer of swimming lessons. She is a little fish and loves to swim. We worked on endurance this summer and she did quite well. Now Parker will be following in her footsteps and is taking swimming lessons this fall.


6) We took the kids to their first baseball game thanks to our friends thoughtful son who wrote a thank-you story for our family and won tickets to a Frisco Roughrider game. The kids loved the hot dogs and the fireworks -- which made me and Parker hold our ears because they were so loud! Thank you Joshua! We all had a great time!
















7) I continued working home loans for my Mom but had a little bit of a change in duty. I am now the loan closer for my Mom's mortgage office and give thanks to the Lord that he provided this opportunity for me to continue working at home. Man, my Mom sure can crack a whip!

8) I thought I was getting quite a tan this summer until Parker tells me that the reason I had purple things on my legs was because I was eating too much purple cabbage!

9) We love spending time with family and the kids were able to spend a little time with Grandma (my Mom), Grammy (Trey's Mom) and Popops and Nana and Papa (my Dad). We love our family!



10) Back-to-School is Cool! Beth enjoyed her first week back in school surprisingly well. She now is in the second grade and we look forward to a great year!



Hope all my friends and family had a great summer!

Beach Kings & Queens

We went to the beach at Perdido Key, Florida again this year for our vacation and had a really great time. With the longer summer this year, we went a little later than usual so the beaches were pretty quiet as all the Alabama/Florida kids had already started school. We met a lot of families from Texas though!

We were so thrilled that we saw dolphins offshore just about every day. Beth loves dolphins and she was so excited to see them! We watched them swim and jump out of the water from the balcony of our condo. There were quite a lot of them too.

The jellyfish were pretty bad this year. Beth actually got stung and barely got back into the water after that. We also saw several small stringrays that the kids (not ours) kept fishing out of the water. And, one guy caught a sand shark which the kids got to timidly "pet".

One thing we did find this year that we have never found in the five or so years we have been taking the family was sand dollars! We found about six nice ones which was a delight -- mostly small ones but those count too! And of course every night we went crab hunting with our flash lights and were not disappointed.