Birds Ahead. Start Planting!

Written by Mark Driskill:

Read Mark 4:30-34

We need a greater vision for the small things God calls us to do. Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a seed, incredibly small, planted in the soil. Although it starts out so tiny it grows into a large tree in which the birds can nest. Most often when I have reflected on this verse I focus on the seed. Truly amazing it is that something so tiny has such great potential. The lesson is well taken that in the kingdom of God the smallest act of faith has the power to produce much larger results than anticipated. But today let’s consider the birds in the parable. They are the ones who come later to rest in the tree, which grew as a result of the seed having been planted years earlier. They get to build their nests on the branches of the tree. What would the poor birds have done if that seed had not been planted years before? They would have been out of luck when the time came for them to need a place to land. Somebody had to have some vision years before those birds were even hatched and plant a seed, to give the tree time to grow and develop branches, so that the birds would have a place to nest when the time came for their mutual destinies to converge. Only God could know in advance how that tree would be needed in ten or twenty years, and move that farmer to plant the seed. It’s the same way in the kingdom of God.

One day, in the early 1970’s, a Bible School teacher saw a new boy sitting alone in the class. She went over to him and started teaching him the books of the Bible. Before long he was having a great time gluing, cutting paper, and drinking punch. That kid grew up going to that same church where lots of people did small acts of love for him and his family. They were all unknowingly planting seeds in his life. Then in 1981, at the age of 17, he accepted Christ as savior and Lord. He went away to school, got married, and is now preaching the gospel. Over the years he has crossed paths with many who needed a word of hope, or a place to rest. Only God could have known way back in the 1970’s that there would be “birds” looking for branches in another place and time and that somehow that little boy would be able to cross paths with them and hand out a branch of hope just in time. Only God can arrange that. But we have to be willing to plant those small seeds of love that will be there for future generations that only God sees. I’m thankful today for that Sunday school teacher who listened to that still small voice that said, “Hey why don’t you go over there and start talking to that kid in the corner?” What if she had said, “Ooh he looks funny, maybe I’ll talk to someone else.”

Today God will call you to plant tiny seeds of faith in the lives of
people. Keep in mind that way down in the future someone is going to need
a branch of hope to rest on. That branch just may come from a great tree
of faith that sprung from the seed of love that you plant today. Plant
with vision today, because the birds are coming, just over the horizon.

Challenge: Ask God to show you someone today who could use a small act of love today. Pray that God will use it for his kingdom tomorrow.


Mark Driskill and his wife Mary are homeschooling community ministers in Breathitt County Kentucky. They have four children. They co pastor Emmanuel fellowship Church, serve as Camp Pastors at Bethel Mennonite Camp, and Mark Teaches at Oakdale Christian Academy. Mark is web minister for Begotten by the Word , a ministry of Helping Hands Christian Resources. Once a month he preaches on the local radio station through the “Lion of Judah” program.

Mark also preaches in youth rallies and revivals upon request at no charge. Their vision is to see true spiritual awakening come to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and to the nation.

Contact information:
Email: driskill@hilbillymail.com
Facebook: Mark Driskill
Address: PO Box 1159 Jackson KY.

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Pro-Market or Pro-Business?

Written By: Josh Kimbrell.

Over the past several decades, the line between being pro-market and pro-business has become obfuscated to the point of indifference. Politicians on the right and left brandish their “job creating” bona fides, and spout-off a laundry list of projects they’ve promoted. On the left, it is common knowledge that the Keynesian philosophy of a government-driven economy is the norm. What’s surprising is that many on the right roll right along with Keynesianism in camouflage. The consequence is an artificial business and social culture, which is driven more by who has the lobbying dollars, than who has labored the hardest. Individuals aren’t the only recipients of welfare in this Country, there’s a broad range of industries living off the public dole as well.

Taxpayer-financed economic development corporations undermine the free-market system as effectively as a stimulus package. The philosophy behind both is the same: that the government, or government-sponsored entity, can control capital better than the people who create it. Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said it best in a recent interview: “The problem we have had as a party is we have often confused being pro-market with being pro-business.” I couldn’t agree more. The current state of play has the American people choosing between Keynesian and Keynesian light. Many of our fellow Republicans have made the fundamental mistake of believing that pro-business is inherently pro-market. I’d take humble exception with this notion, as nearly all “job announcements,” by economic development agencies, take place after large sums of public money have subsidized private projects. The free-market, by definition, is “a market that is not interfered with by government constraints on transactions.” Unfortunately, this is rarely realized.

Take, for example, recent incentives packages cobbled together for Southwest Airlines. This set of “targeted incentives” was constructed to entice the company to move to South Carolina. In the case of Southwest Airlines, they decided to move to our State without the assistance of the legislature. Why? Because they believe the investment makes sense; they believe that South Carolina is a good place for them to do business. If they didn’t, the legislature was ready with a back-up plan: subsidize their ticket sales. In order to ensure that the air carrier came to our State, regardless of feasibility, the legislature was ready to subsidize its losses. They were willing to write a check, funded by the taxpayer, each year to ensure Southwest came to SC airports. This sort of corporate welfare ensures that taxes are kept high, as these type projects require funding, while our state constitution requires a balanced budget.

As the favorite projects of politicians gain public funding, small businesses from Greenville to Georgetown, Abbeville to Aiken, struggle to make ends meet. All the while, their representatives are in Columbia pledging their money to international corporations to make headlines, while they struggle to make payroll. When the SC Legislature reconvenes next winter, and the Republican Congress is seated on Capitol Hill, it is time for Republicans to be pro-market, not merely pro-business. Our free-market system and, by extension, our economic prosperity is dependent upon it.

Joshua B. Kimbrell
President & Chairman
CEO Round Table of South Carolina


Josh Kimbrell is President & Chairman of CEO Round Table of South Carolina. CEO stands for “Christians Empowered & Organized.” Part of the mission of CEO Round Table is “to promote a way of life that embraces faith, family, and freedom.” For more information on this organization visit their websites at…

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Elections Have Consequences: Statement on Senator Graham’s Supreme Court Vote

Written By: Josh Kimbrell.

History has borne witness to the consequences of failed courage. Neville Chamberlain lost his courage in face of naked aggression, thus inviting Hitler’s bombardments on British soil. Richard Nixon, gripped by jealousy and fear, forfeited his presidency in the name of electoral assurance. Today, Senator Lindsey Graham became the sole Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court of the United States. In so doing, he joined the company of failed leaders whose political pragmatism trumped personal conviction. Just as Neville Chamberlain’s appeasing, and Richard Nixon’s paranoia, brought long-term consequences, so Graham’s vote for Elena Kagan will affect a generation of jurisprudence. While citing that “elections have consequences,” Graham voted to subvert the entire process of elections by appointing a judicial activist to the highest court in the land.

A cursory glance at Elena Kagan’s legal career reveals her serious sense of hostility for American Values, and most Americans. From crafting President Bill Clinton’s defeat of a partial birth abortion ban in 1997, to her support of Harvard University’s ban on military recruiters, Elena Kagan has proven to the American People whose side she’s on, and it’s not theirs. Though she has no experience as a judge, the positions she’s taken in a long legal career illustrate her inclination to use the courts to carry out ideological ends. As it’s the constitutional role of the court to interpret, not make, law, it’s more than a tad ironic that Senator Graham cites the Constitution as his reason for approving Solicitor Kagan. The inconsistency of such reasoning is analogous to Vice President Biden’s assertion that America had to “keep spending to keep from going bankrupt.”

In the book of James, the question is rhetorically asked “can both fresh and salt water flow from the same spring?” Don’t tell James, but Senator Graham’s sure hoping so. His argument that he’s simply following the Constitution springs from the “advice and consent” responsibility of the Senate. Article II, Section II, Clause II of the U.S. Constitution charges the Senate with the role of “advice and consent” to the President on Supreme Court nominees. In this capacity, the Senate must approve the President’s nominee before he or she may be seated on the Court. The intent was to have the Senate check the power of the president, thus ensuring that any Supreme Court justice would be capable, indeed committed, to upholding the Constitution.

Elena Kagan’s willingness to undermine the natural and unalienable rights of American Citizens qualifies her as a threat to the Constitution. If Senator Graham were really worried about upholding the Constitution, instead of preserving his darling status on “Meet the Press,” he’d oppose this nominee post-haste. Unfortunately for the American People, Senator Graham has chosen to say one thing and do another. Too bad he claimed to support the Constitution before undermining it, as opposed to claiming not to support it while upholding it.

My prayer is that the people of South Carolina will show Senator Graham the meaning of “elections have consequences” in 2014.

Joshua B. Kimbrell
President & Chairman
CEO Round Table of South Carolina


Josh Kimbrell is President & Chairman of CEO Round Table of South Carolina. CEO stands for “Christians Empowered & Organized.” Part of the mission of CEO Round Table is “to promote a way of life that embraces faith, family, and freedom.” For more information on this organization visit their websites at…

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Freedom of Religion Is More Than Freedom To Worship

By Dr. Tony Beam.

At the risk of being pedantic, words mean things. Our ability to communicate is based on our ability to use and understand the meaning of words. Yelling “fire” in a crowed theater is not a threat if the moviegoers think they are merely being given the command to discharge imaginary weapons. Words communicate the depth and breadth of the ideas behind them. Choosing the right word or phrase in the right situation means the difference between effective communication and evasive confusion.

I have to believe people in the Obama Administration know this and that is why it is disturbing to me when the president exchanges the phrase “war on terror” for “overseas contingency operations.” War on terror is a compact, meaningful description of the ongoing struggle against Islamic radicalism. Overseas contingency operation could mean anything from an airlift of humanitarian supplies for Haiti to an airstrike against the Taliban. When a phrase carries the possibilities of such a wide range of meaning all objective meaning is lost.

Now that the terms of war have changed the President has moved on to apply his wordsmith skills to a cherished Constitutional principle…the freedom of religion. The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush have spoken openly and often about the freedom of religion that is provided by God and protected by the rule of law. Speaking of religion, Washington said, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.” In June of 2009, President Obama referred to the freedom of religion in a speech in Cairo. The President said, “Moreover freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one’s religion. “

But in November of 2009 the President exchanged the all-encompassing “freedom of religion” for the much more narrowly defined “freedom of worship.” Speaking to the crowd gathered to remember the victims of the Fort Hood shooting the President said, “We’re a nation that guarantees the freedom to worship as one chooses.” He followed that up with a speech he delivered in Tokyo where he said, “The longing for liberty and dignity is a part of the story of all peoples. For there are certain aspirations that human beings hold in common: the freedom to speak your mind, and choose your leaders; the ability to access information, and worship how you please.”

The president is not the only member of the current administration that prefers “freedom of worship” to “freedom of religion.” Speaking at Georgetown University in December of 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “To fulfill their potential, people must be free to choose laws and leaders; to share and access information, to speak, criticize and debate. They must be free to worship, associate and to love in the way they choose.”

Is it really a big deal that the President and members of his administration have migrated from freedom of religion to freedom of worship? Yes, it really is a big deal because, as stated at the beginning of this article, words mean things. The freedom to worship is an exclusive term that relates only to the way people express their relationship with God inside the walls of the church. Freedom of religion carries the idea of religious expression beyond the walls of the church into the public arena.

For example, the government can grant me the freedom to worship but without freedom of religion that same government can prohibit me from sharing my faith with my neighbor. My belief in the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage as being exclusively between a man and woman could be prohibited while the government allows me to continue to worship according to my religious tradition.

By shifting from freedom of religion to freedom of worship, the administration would be laying the groundwork for censuring religious thought and expression in the public square while sanctioning worship as long as that worship remains tucked away from public view within the confines of the church.

I understand that worship can take place other than the confines of a church but emphasizing the freedom or worship over the freedom of religion protects our ability to express our love for God while leaving open the possibility of the curtailment of our responsibility to express God’s truth in the culture.

Worship is an important part of religious expression but it is only one part. As Christians, we must stand up for our right to express our religious beliefs both inside and outside the walls of the church. If our understanding of religious freedom becomes confined by wordsmiths to nothing more than what takes place inside the church we will soon find that our outside the walls expression of God’s truth has been lost.

RELATED ARTICLE:  Separation of Church and State: Historical Fact or Myth? A treatise written by Rep. William D. Graves, lawyer and author of Oklahoma’s voluntary school prayer law, which he successfully defended in U.S. District Court.


You can hear Dr. Tony Beam live on Christian Talk 660 weekday mornings from 7:00-9:00 AM (EST) as he is the host of Christian Worldview Today. You can also listen to recorded broadcasts in the Christian Worldview Today Archive.

Dr. Tony Beam is Vice-President for Student Services and the Director of the Christian Worldview Center at North Greenville College in Tigerville, South Carolina, Dr. Tony Beam received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and his Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Genie or Storm Chaser?

Written by Mark Driskill:

Read Mark 4:35-41

Just when the disciples think they have Jesus all figured out he takes them out into the middle of a storm and blows them away. Until now they had become pretty used to Jesus as the demon casting, body healing, parable telling messiah. They were kind of enjoying the fame of being one of his followers. It was kinda cool to have people ask them how they got connected with this teacher. They enjoyed standing by while Jesus drew the crowds with his revolutionary teaching and powerful miracles.

At first leaving everything to follow Jesus was pretty scary, but by now they were feeling almost smug about things. Life was good. Just about the time the boys are collecting some rays along the seashore, Jesus takes them out to sea with a small fleet of boats along side. Here he places them in the center of a storm while he takes a short nap. Suddenly things don’t look so glamorous. Their universe is sent into a tailspin and things are looking pretty dismal. In fact it looks like this is the end of the line, not even their teacher could get them out of this one! With the boat quickly filling they panic and beg Jesus to help. “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” they cry.

At this point I don’t think they were asking Jesus to do anything about the storm. They didn’t know yet that he could do that. I think they were saying, “Hey grab a bucket and start bailing!” Then Jesus gets up, wipes the sleep out of his eye, stretches his back until it pops, and then tells the storm to stop. Then as suddenly as the storm comes it is gone. Unlike other miracles this one doesn’t leave them dancing for joy. It leaves them dazed. “Who is this that even the wind and sea obey him?” They whisper to each other.

Its one thing to know Jesus can heal. But now he controls the weather! The disciples are stunned. They are completely awestruck. Their Jesus just got a whole lot bigger. This is no genie in a bottle who can grant all your wishes. This guy has the atmosphere under his command. They must have just sat and stared at him for the longest time.

Sometimes we need a good storm just to remind us how big Jesus really is. We can get so used to the Jesus we have come to know that we become complacent. We like having a nice manageable Jesus who just tells stories and heals our sicknesses. We are content to bask in the sun along the seashore with our little Jesus alongside. But about the time we think we have Jesus under our control, about the time we feel we have him housebroken and domesticated, he kicks up a storm and scares us to life.

Let us remember today that Jesus is not just a nice guy in a robe telling stories. He is God in the flesh. He doesn’t just help us through storms. He controls the atmosphere. Is your Jesus big enough to handle storms? If not then he is not the Jesus of the New Testament. You need a bigger Jesus. The storm you are in right now just may be his way of showing you just how big he is. Put away your little churchy domesticated Barbie doll Jesus and take hold of the original storm chaser! Hand him your storm today.

Challenge: Think of someone who is going through a storm right now. Go see
them and pray with them that Jesus will calm the storm. Expect him to do
great things. Put away your dogma and believe God.


Mark Driskill and his wife Mary are homeschooling community ministers in Breathitt County Kentucky. They have four children. They co pastor Emmanuel fellowship Church, serve as Camp Pastors at Bethel Mennonite Camp, and Mark Teaches at Oakdale Christian Academy. Mark is web minister for Begotten by the Word , a ministry of Helping Hands Christian Resources. Once a month he preaches on the local radio station through the “Lion of Judah” program.

Mark also preaches in youth rallies and revivals upon request at no charge. Their vision is to see true spiritual awakening come to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and to the nation.

Contact information:
Email: driskill@hilbillymail.com
Facebook: Mark Driskill
Address: PO Box 1159 Jackson KY.

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