Gays and Jesus - A Different Christian View Point

Back when AIDs was still a plague that was killing all it touched, I was wrapped up in trying to learn how to deal with my own issues brought on by my still existent TBI, and what was said about AIDs didn't effect me, and was not part of my world.  After all, I have always been heterosexual and I am still married to the same awesome women I married in 1979.

Not my monkeys, not my circus, so to speak.

Then my wife and daughter took me to see Rent right off Broadway in New York City.

I have learned much since then about my own prejudice, institutional prejudice, societal pressure, about my own discernment of the scriptural text and most importantly what the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God, wants me to do and understand.

All of that, however, was not enough for me to write this blog entry, until my recent family trip to watch my nephew receive his baccalaureate from the University of Oregon in biology.

Caveat Lector - The Truth Shall Set you Free, but it will Hurt.

We arrived in Eugene Oregon at 6:30 in the morning and went straight to bed, after 12 hours of traveling.  When we woke up, this was the view from the porch.  Pretty awesome that the home my sister had rented was in such a fantastic setting.

It was a Sunday early afternoon, and we were in a house with 5 females and 12 males, all pretty much relaxing all over the place.  The numbers of people would also fluctuate radically during the day, as friends of the family and the graduate came by to enjoy the company and the celebration of my nephew's accomplishment.  It was, even for me, a paranoid anti social person due to TBI, a joyous time.

We went shopping as a team, went to Starbucks as a team, came home and cooked and ate as a team, or at least what passes for a team in the Northwest, where personal freedom of action is not just a nice concept, but a reality of every day life.

After dinner, it started to get cold, so the groups got tighter and the fire on the porch was ignited. As it turns out, one of the genes from my nephew's other side of the family was music, so many of the people there were musicians. And then, most of the older attendees, and by older I mean old enough to remember JFK, rather than remember who he was, were sitting around the fire swapping stories of my sisters' (Both of my sisters live in the northwest and were there) and my life, since none of them had ever met me (the friends that is - I knew my sisters).

Off hand, one of them said, "I would have died from aids way back then if Robin had not been there."

Alarm bells rang in my head, but not at first from the "I would have died" part, but from the AIDs part.  That meant that they were probably gay.  Wait a minute,  I was already informed that they were gay, and was taking a low profile on my faith, because the gay community, as a rule, pretty much distrusts Conservative White Christians.  Me.  They distrust me I thought, so I avoided any apologetics for the first day of our trip.

Yet, even so, it had not really occurred to me that people I knew actually had AIDS.  

I stupidly said, as it sank in, "Then you must have seen many of your friends die?"  I meant it as sensitive, and fortunately they took it that way, but in retrospect, it was loss of impulse control, as the real fact that these were gay men, looking around, most of them were gay men, that had AIDs.

I then heard stories of just how my sister had "saved" them, and it was those stories that prompted this video.

I heard story after story of personal encounters with who I know as God, but they called "Higher Being" or "Spiritual Encounter."  Everything they said was in line with scripture and had the feel of genuine encounter with the Spirit of God.

Everything they were told in their encounters showed the Love of the Lord.

This did not confuse me because of the assumption that they were an abomination, according to a tight and blind reading of the scripture, but it did confuse me because of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, as they did not profess to know Jesus.  To be sure, I was jealous.  

But, the Power of the Love of the Lord overwhelmed me non the less.  I have felt this a couple of times in my life. At Church on Christmas Day a few years ago; when my daughter accepted the Lord, though at the time I had not; when I was baptised for the 3rd time; When I decided to give up on using TBI as a crutch and a few times when my wife ran "Run to Homebase" for others with TBI. I'm prone to emotional events, but these events were not emotional but rather total life altering extra vision, on your knees noticing the Power of God spiritual. I recognize the Spirit of the Lord when it moves now, and this was one of those events.

Suddenly I saw God working in these people, and in one of their encounters with the Holy Spirit, God told them they "were ok, just they way they were."

I could give you dozens of reason why many read the "clobber" phrases in the bible as a condemnation of homosexuality, but I won't.  That's the wisdom of man, rather than the wisdom of God.  I will just say this.  Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as your self.  Love is an action, and it does not have condemnation or judgement in it.  Condemnation is God's job, not ours. We are called to the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ.  That is Love in spite of Sin, to obliterate condemnation.  Do that. Just Love people.

Be the Little Christ that Christian means, rather than the little demon in other people's lives.

So I crossed the line that day.  Before Monday June 15, 2015, I supported Gay Rights, because I "thought" and my biblical research supported Gay Rights.  I had long ago stopped saying "life style choice," because I am a physicist, and science has shown without doubt it is not choice.  Just like it has shown that the earth is not the center of creation and that African Americans are NOT inferior to anyone.  All of these bigoted choices have at one time or the other been supported through selective and gymnastic interruptions of the Bible. I had already crossed that line, but on Monday, I crossed another line.  I felt that I had been called to stop living in the shadows, performing random acts of love. I had been called to make a stand.

This scarred the heck out of me. I had not idea what I could do, or what would happen.

Then the rest of the story happened. Anne and I spent the rest of the week at my sister Robin's house in Seattle Washington. I told her what some of her friends had said about her work with them.

She then told me a little more about what she had done in the last few decades.  She called the early years of HIV a plague, and if you remember, 100% of those with HIV were supposed to die, and most actually did.  She and her colleagues created a group, I believe it was Team Quest, in Portland Oregon, and it's purpose was to create protocols that would keep the gay community with HIV alive, against all odds, until medication was invented that would keep them alive.  Fortunately, that day has come, which was also news to me.  However, keeping people alive against a virus that is 100% fatal seems like a fools quest.  It was not.  They not only keep people alive, but they are one of the primary reasons that people are not afraid to be tested for HIV in the northwest.  They provided the love, the care, the concern and the counselling that was necessary and never before done for a community that was being obliterated by a plague and shunned by the people of God.  They became God's hands. The were Love.  There is far more to the extent to which Robin personally went, but this is enough to see the Love.  Love is sacrifice, and it only come from God.

So, this is my call.  To bring God, though Love, to this community.  They already are more spiritual than I.  Many have talked directly to God. But our bigotry, our hate, our fear has caused them to turn for the Lord, and approach him from a different angle.  How can we let that stand.  Salvation and Love is the gift of God to all people, and we are called to be bring the gospel of Love and Forgiveness, not the gospel of Hate.  Examine what you believe, about the gay community, then ask yourself, what would Jesus do.  I can't see him with posters saying he hated gays.  I can't see him trying to get the Romans to execute, disenfranchise and destroy them.  I can't see him not selling them cake.

I can see him walking into their community, as he did with leapers, who were believe to be sinners in their time, and Loving them, touching them, feeding them.

We have been playing for the other team.  Stop it.  Be Gods light, not the darkness.

A Book Review - Jesus Did It Anyway

Jesus Did It Anyway (The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians) by Kent M. Keith is a book about how to live a life a faith in Jesus by coming face to face with the contradictory nature of being a disciple of God and living in the world. The very nature of the "commandments" that Keith draws from both the bible and observation of human kind were so astounding that Mother Teresa borrows them for her own work.


The book starts with a chapter that is titled "The Call," reminding us that God is asking us to follow Jesus. Keith then reminds us that following Jesus is NOT about doctrine, or about a list of rules or commandments, but about the Gospel of Jesus itself, and he does that by illustrating Good Friday and it's meaning. Then, mirroring the 10 commandments of God gave Moses, Keith draws 10 commandments summarizing both Jesus' actions and behaviors as he outlines how we too can follow Jesus' example and change the world us. 

Keith's first Paradoxical Commandment is "People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.  LOVE THEM ANYWAY. Think about that for a moment.  People really are illogical and they really do ask and expect us to do unreasonable thinks because they are more concerned about themselves than others.  Narcissism runs rampant in our world today.  It's all about the "Selfie."  It would to me, seem must easier to be disappointed, angry and retaliatory to these mean people, to prevent them and others from taking advantage of me.  But both Keith and the WWJD bracelet asks, "What Would Jesus Do?"  Well, he would love them anyway.  And so goes the other 9 commandments, all of them explaining to the reader how paradoxical Jesus', and his followers', behavior within the world really is or ought to be.  It's actually rather shocking, as he not only says what we should do, but why, biblically, and how.  

Keith's book is not only interesting, but for the last 5 years I have continually returned to it help me organize, recover and plan my reactions when I have been hurt or confused by the World's behavior.  He has written it so well that you faith is stoked, you life is enhanced and Jesus comes deeper and deeper into your life.

It has taken me 5 years to write this short review, because I have not begun to be done with this book.  Instead of it being something I have read, and enjoyed, it is still something I am reading, using and growing with, along with my bible.  This is a 5 star book.  Get it!  Now.
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Want to Order Jesus Did It Anyway?  Click the book cover below.

A Book Review for: Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back is a Christian witness book written by Todd, Sonja and Colton Burpo. It is written from the perspective of a conservative Christian pastor, Todd Burpo, and it appears to have been written to bring into the world a rather remarkable witness of a young boy who has been to heaven, so that we, the readers, can either be comforted in our belief or have a reason to believe that heaven is real and what it looks and feels like. From my perspective, it is an interesting story that neither buttresses my faith nor detracts from it.  It does, however, ignore some of the basic scholarship that those who seek facts rather than feeling, might be seeking.

It's basic story follows the now familiar line of a near death or out of body vision, this one from heaven. It offers a long list of supports from the vision, verified by third party observations, attempting to validate the thesis that Heaven is for real, and Colton's story, the child subject of the book, is for real.  In the end, there is an impassioned cry to recognize the Glory of God and accept the free gift of heaven for yourself.

One of the most convincing aspects is an out-of-body or near death experience where Colton sees and remembers details that he was not conscious for or even in the room for.  This strikes me as the strongest witness in the narrative, even though these types of stories are often written off as suppressed memory, brain activity while asleep or a whole host of other plausible opportunities for the subject to have gained the information even while they were unaware of gaining it.  Even so, I believe this part because my father had a similar experience during the Korean war, when he was shot, abandoned behind the lines, and later recovered.  According to the record, he died, and then revived. He too saw things that he could not have seen when he remembers being suspended over his body during the operation.  

There are numerous other points of contact with the possibility of supernatural visions, including humans with angle wings, a picture of Jesus that is validated by a third party non-Christian and the meeting of long dead and never encountered family members.

Normally, in the modern age, anecdotal evidence is looked down upon by the new and sudo-intellectuals.  I, being a physicist, tend to accept direct witness, if verifiable, with ease, and have long wondered why in the last few decades witness means so little to the modern skeptic.  In that sense, this book is a disappointment to those who seek scientific fact.  There is none. There is, however, a well written witness story about the power of God.

From the negative side, I have to tell you, as a Christian, I find the book neither beneficial or necessary.  My faith is based on personal contact with God via the Holy Spirit.  All the anecdotal evidence I have ever needed to support the existence of heaven is in the Bible or my own life, or the lives of those around me.  My own witness story, Standing in the Storm, and the witness of Jesus' life, death and resurrection are more powerful to begin with, and the stories of those around me are easier to judge and consider, since I know the people and can see their eyes when they are telling me the story.  The "power" of this story is that it is told by a Pastor who is gifted and explanation and leaves out nothing.


I would recommend this book wholeheartedly if you are already a Christian and are already secure in you faith; or, if you seeking knowledge in  the modern age as to why and what Christians believe.  If you are analytical and want more than anecdotal information, this won't do it for you.

In any case, I suggest you read what the Bible has to say about heaven first.  It is not called the greatest story ever told by mistake.

Day 5 ~ 21 days to a Positive Attitude (Thursday March 6)

Day 5 - Thursday April 6

1) Every day write down 3 good things that happened that day for which you are grateful.

        

A. Once we got to my daughters house, as mentioned in day 4, one of the simple things that emotional entangles me easily

was repaired.  I have a really personal kitty named dragon show to the left.  I missed my kitties and more important, I missed any kitty sleeping on me.  10 minutes on the bed, and Audrey, my daughter's oldest kitty, decided I was a good kitty person, and moved right in.

B. I discovered that I could walk with the crutches the same distance I could walk with the walker, 1 week ahead of schedule.

C. I discovered that I could go up the twenty stairs to the bathroom, and did not have to use the commode as a commode, unless no-one else was in the house.

2) Journal about one positive blessing. One of the three, and explain why that good thing is better than the bad things that happened.

The counter point that represents Thursday's evil is that the home nursing company my hospital chose to use to give me injections lied to me at the hospital.  One of the reasons we stayed at my daughter's home was because when we asked if I could have a friend, one of our black belts no less, who worked for them, be our nurse.  The told us that we defiantly could.  This accomplished 2 things. First, I did not have to reintroduce myself and TBI to yet again another health care provider, which is one of the worst self debasing and humiliating things I have to do every time I see one. Second, this nurse has been a rock in my life.  Her church treated her like garbage at exactly the same time I was discovering Christ, so as I grew into the light, she began walking in the darkness.  The problem is, there is more Godly fruit in this persons life than nearly any Christian I know, and I owed her. So, this would have been a blessing I could have sent her way.  I was emotional destroyed by this companies lie, and it was going to get worse, because I had not yet started answering all the freaking questions.

The blessing that countered all the Bad for day 6, the source of light that brought shining brightness into my dark world was the simplest one.  My daughter's kitty.  I was unconditionally adopted, (as unconditional as you can get for a cat) by my daughters kitty.  She made me her bed.  She trusted me.  She changed the light in my world.  The littlest things sometime really do matter.

3) Meditate and detach from multi-tasking, by focusing on scripture~ read it, research it, think about how it might impact your life.

I a continuing my exploration of the Holy Spirit and relationship to him, and today's reading from this awesome book, and consequently the bible supporting his research knocked hard at one of my God given gifts, Leadership. Today, I was reminded that I MUST be able to follow if I am going to lead, and it is not just and idea, but a daily reality for the Christian Leader.  This is a quote from that book:

The name of the Book is "Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit." 

This link will bring you to where I bought the book - Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit

4) One random act of kindness a week. You can do more. (Try one a day)

No Random Acts Of Kindness Today

5) Pray. Lay down the hurtful things and gather strength. 

Done
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Rules for 21 Days to a Positive Attitude and Day 1.  Click here

Day 2: Click Here.
Day 3: Click Here.
Day 4: Click Here.

Day 2 ~ 21 days to a Positive Attitude

If you want the 21 day plan, or you want to read day 1, click here.
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Day 2

1) Every day write down 3 good things that happened that day for which you are grateful.

A. Total knee replacement surgery is a blessing beyond measure. Already I can tell that the bone on none pain is gone.

B. I did not have my kindle or cell phone when I woke up, after surgery, so I asked for a bible from the hospital. St. Vincent's chaplain gave me a new testament.  It was a translation I would never have tried on my own, the Contemporary English Version. It is a meaning translation rather than a word for word translation leaving it open to possible translation anomalies,  however, it does spend much effort in putting the language and context together.  Better, its annotations when it drifts or when there is doubt is awesome.

C) My body cooperated well today,and I got Physical Therapy in for day 3 rather than day 1.

D) I got get well cards from KOTK, my former Sunday school class, and from McCoy's Action Karate.  Feel great.  People care. I feel it in my soul.

2) Journal about one positive blessing. One of the three, and explain why that good thing is better than the bad things that happened.

The CEV bible made the pain and the absence of my wife (she had to work) and the recent badness at church, see day 1, vanish into nothingness. 

I read the entire gospel of Mark. This language and notes used by this bible taught me more than I have ever learned from simple reading. The Holy Spirit jumped off the page into my heart with this clear presentation.  No effort to disguise or even apologetics was evident. It was the best time I have ever spent in the word.  Life changing.

3) Meditate and detach from multi-tasking, buy focusing on scripture~ read it, research it, think about how it might impact your life, your day, maybe even right now.

I read the book of Mark in the CEV bible. I see, for the first time, how often they Jesus and the Holy Spirit us apology to make the point. Everywhere,  old and new Testament.   Literal translation of a mustard seed is, to example, a waste of time.  God is after our hearts.

4) One random act of kindness a week. You can do more. (Try one a day)

Told Anne Not to visit me in the hospital all day, so add he could have a life.

5) Pray. Lay down the hurtful things and gather strength.

Had a discussion with my night shift RN and my orthopedic roommate about the need for prayer.  Universal acceptance was: confess and seek foregiveness,  pray anywhere, anytime about anything, and God is Great.

Where Did the Books of the New Testament Come From?

1 The primary standard is “could be linked to eyewitnesses of the risen Lord.” - ChurchHistory101

a.Acts 1:21-26 (ESV) So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

b.Serapion said, "We, brothers and sisters, receive Peter and the rest of the apostles as we would receive Christ himself. But those writings that are falsely ascribed with their names, we carefully reject, knowing that no such writings have ever been handed down to us. - eighth bishop of Antioch, 190 – 210 AD

c.From early, as early as the beginning of the first century, this attitude was expressed – if we could attribute the writings to an apostle, that we should treat them with the same weight as the words of Jesus.

2 That nothing be read in church unless it is authoritative – though it can and should be read for knowledge at home. (Canonical scripture.)

3 That it does not contradict other scripture
4 That it was accepted by the early church as authoritative

5 The Muratorian Canon dated 170 – 190 AD included these books as ones to be read in church.

a.Matthew and Mark (Part of the document is missing, but it says 4 gospels)
b.Acts
c.all 13 Pauline letters (including the Pastoral epistles)
d.1 and 2 John is assumed since the writer only names two letters of John
e.Jude
f.the Revelation of John
g.the Books/Letters missing are Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, and 3 John
h.Gospels were selected by direct connection to Jesus, not be Gnostic, and used by most of the churches.

6) The 3rd Century the concept of “inspired” text first starts getting general recognized use.
7) Easter Letter of Athanasius in 367 AD named the 27 books we use today for the first time. – Again, these are not the only books that can be read by Christians for knowledge, but the only one approved to be read at Church from the New Testament.

8)Synod of Hippo in 393 AD is believed to be the first church council that listed all 27 books now used, but no record from this synod survived. It is mentioned in other records from other synods.

9)The choice therefor, was not made at a church council but rather by consensus of all the churches during the first 3 Centuries.

10)The First Council of Nicene 325 AD had NO MENTION of canon scripture.

So, we arrived at the book we call the New Testament not by divine writing, or it be handed down to us by the hand of God, but rather directly from the pens of people who were witnesses of the resurrection or the resurrected Jesus, the Christ. The specific books were selected more by early church men throwing out those that were not consistent with that overriding authoritative test, did they meet, know and witness Jesus, and does it agree with the rest of the accepted apostolic or witness writings. Many books were argued about over time, but all of the 27 we now recognize were accepted by everyone over 2 ½ centuries. The Councils did not bring the canon into existence, but rather accepted what was already being done by church fathers.

Their purpose was to make sure the story of Jesus was passed on correctly. Later they were called “inspired” and “divine” or even scripture. Originally, their power is that they are direct witness of the life, death and resurrection of the Jesus.

Chocking on the Fear

Photo - Anonymous

I got this picture the other day in my email inbox.  It instructed me to look at the far right side of the photo, notice the people there near the guard rail, looking at the pickup truck.  It went on and pointed out that the truck was traveling in the opposite direction from where it stopped, at 70 mph, when it lost control and crashed through the guard rail, jumped the culvert and landed on the ledge facing in the opposite direction.  Finally, for this picture, it pointed out that the two passengers in the pickup truck were NOT injured.  That would generate some fear in my life, I would think. But, if you know me at all, or you have read anything I have ever written, you already know that God is the reason that they survived.  Pretty awesome God.

When I started karate, I had never spent more than a few moments feeling fear.  Sure, there were things in my life I did not look forward to, like punishment and the like from my childhood years, but fear was never really a part of it.  More like duty or acceptance.  This is going to suck, but then there is tomorrow, and everything will be all right.  I have often looked back at my childhood and young adulthood, the parts that I can remember, (I don't remember much - I have TBI, which has robbed my of most of my long term memory and much of my short term memory - for more about this, click Here.) and I have determined that I always felt safe and loved. Safe because either I absolutely trusted my family to keep me safe, no matter what, or later on, because I rested on my own power and knew that I was safe because I had always made it so.  There had never been a problem I could not turn into a positive, generally without thought or plan.  Kinda like Midas' magic fingers. I could make me and anyone around me feel alright. So, having personal experience with being able to convert apocalypse into sunny beaches, I swallowed a Big Lie that I have still not been able to shake, even unto today. The lie that I learned within the first few hours of resuming my martial arts training after my injury was, "FEAR is not real.  It stand for False Evidence Appearing Real."

Photo - Used by Permission www.GoodJobNotes.com

Sure, being able to reduce FEAR into the abstract allows you to let it go, so the acronym actually works.  Don't confuse "actually works" with actually happens however.  Doing so is the equivalent of believing that the sun is actually drawn by a chariot from the East to the West every day by Apollo.  Assuming Apollo is riding the chariot around the world every day does explain why the sun rises and sets rather well, it is just not true.  A working model, so to speak, but nothing more.  I still think about this acronym when fear is washing over me.  It is my first thought.  It is my life line to sanity.  It is one of my largest problems in my faith now, and it has become a god to me.  For example, when my insurance company decided that they would no longer honor their side of my disability insurance, and sued my family for some huge amount of money, I was thrown into fear that nearly took my life.  Despair mixed with power from somewhere else creates a feeling of hopelessness faster than you can imagine.  There was nothing I could do, since THEY were subjecting me to pressure that required money, and lots of it, to defend against.  Most people think that justice is guaranteed within the USA, as I did, but that simply is not true.  Justice is a commodity that must be purchased, and the insurance company was made of money.  I have never found out what their real motive was.  I have been told by many attorneys that it was only about money, meaning they knew they could get mine, but I have a hard time accepting the role of the victim, so I still don't know. Anyway, I stood to lose my house, I had already lost my car, and my wife and daughter stood to lose their business. I was afraid. Turn your stomach into a fire, weaken your knees and make you sick all the time type of fear.

I had begun to rationalize the fear into one of my steady state conditions, paranoia, by waking up each day, telling myself that it was False Evidence Appearing Real. In other words, I was paranoid, because this could not really happen, and I was really safe.  I just thought I was at risk. I knew that I had not done anything wrong and they, meaning the insurance company, knew that. At some point, this situation really had to go away.  Yet, for years and years, it only got worse.  I lost contact with my wife, daughter, karate, faith and myself.  I was physically there, I just was not present.  I watched movies and ate.  I hated myself and contemplated, even planned a few times, how to end my own life.  I talked to my pastors, who only told me to hold on and it would work out.  In other words, they told me that it was False Evidence Appearing Real too.  Just hang on.  

Then my mental health councilor told me that it was NOT paranoia, but rather I was afraid of a real risk.  Real evidence appearing real.  Victory. I was right all along. They really were coming to get me.

Not really.  My heart sank even further.  I had nothing left to hang onto.  They were really coming to get me and there really was nothing for me to do. Hope had been banished from the building.

Yet, though I did in fact lose both my income and my car forever, I did not lose everything.  I had forgotten one very important thing.  I forgot that I was NOT alone.  God was with me.  Zechariah 4:6 (NIV) "So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."

The evidence was real enough. They were after me.  What I had forgotten was that is was not by my own power through which salvation came.  I could not defense myself, for the first time I could remember in my life.  I was literally standing in the storm, and the water was coming toward my mouth.  My only choice was stand and wait for the end to come, which was not far off, or end the pain and duck under the waves.  I not only considered ducking under the waves, I actually planed it.  I might have actually tried to duck under the waves, but that is a different story.  In the end, my wife, daughter and fellow martial artists propped me up long enough for me to see the life boat coming. When the insurance company finally dropped the suit, I was thinking about God, "took you long enough to rescue me."  What I missed was that I WAS rescued.  God is outside of time.  He already knew he was beside me. He already knew how he was going to pull me out.  I just did not trust him to do it.  I needed it to be on my time, my schedule my way.  I even tried to do it myself, by saying over and over to myself, "False Evidence Appearing Real," hoping I could save myself by just accepting that I had made choices that I could now change.  I was so busy trying to save myself or lamenting my "fate," I forgot to invite my God into my problem.  He already knew what the problem was, and compared the stuff he has to deal, it was puny.  I forgot that FEAR was the problem, and I needed to tell my FEAR that my God was bigger than it.

God is the solution, for sure.  I know that now. Why is it, then, that I am at this very moment terrified of what might happen tomorrow?  I would like to say that it is my brain injury, but that would be telling my FEAR that it is false.  It is not false.  The world is a horrible and broken place, and there are few you can lean on and rely on.  I am blessed to be able to rely on my wife and daughter, though I forget that more than I remember it.  However, what I did not remember or know until this very day, this very moment, was that God already has already solved it.  I just am not paying attention.  I FEAR what may happen so much, I forget to worship at the feet of Jesus, and instead worship at the feet of the monetary system that rules our world.  I keep letting my solutions run through my mind. I could feel the boat bumping up against me while I stood within the storm, but all I felt was annoyance.  I actually, metaphorically speaking, looked at the boat as an unwelcome distraction, batting it away in my mind.

So today I bring the solution to YOU and to my life.  Instead of bringing my list of woe and pain to the Lord, as a menu of things I need from him, I will instead bring my God to my problems. I am not telling you to stop communicating to God about your problems.  Far from it.  He already knows for sure, but any solid relationship involves honest and direct communication.  We are supposed to lay our problems at his feet.  So lay them out.  Yet, the power is in the faith, not in the action of telling him the problems.  God IS on the job. Bring him into your loop.  Bring him INTO the problem.

How, you may ask?  

Open the freaking door.  Sometimes, in order to understand how God works his spiritual will in our physical world, actually physical actions help us see it happen. Physically, with your left or right hand, reach up and act out opening a door.  Sure, it is going to look strange. People might see you pantomiming, and you without your white face paint, you are going to look strange, but do it anyway.  Open the door, and look in.  If your fear is anything like mine, you can see, feel, smell, taste and maybe hear it.  There it is. The bible, the very word of God, promises us that if you open the door, God will walk in.  As you are looking in, you should smile at your fear, because your God is already there.  I actually said, "I'm sorry, but you have already lost.  FEAR, this is my God", and turned my back and walked away. 

Revelation 3:20 - "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

When Jesus said this, we has talking about Spiritual Power and Spiritual Salvation. Remember the verse Zechariah 4:6 above, where the Lord told Zerubbabel that the oil would burn endlessly because of God's Spiritual Power? God acted in the physical world with Spiritual Power. We tend to make our God too small, and say, because science tends to deny spiritual power, that God's actions are only in the spiritual part of our existence. We do that, in spite of knowing that Paul and Peter brought people back to life, gave them back their ability to walk and see. We do that because our faith is far smaller than a mustard seed, and we are worshiping our FEAR. Stop it.  Open the door.  Physically open the door, and introduce your FEAR to your GOD. Then, by faith, turn you back and walk away, because the boat is already there to rescue you and your FEAR prevented you from see it.

Back to the email I got that I mentioned at the beginning.  You probably would now see that I am pushing the point that God can do anything.  That God turned the whole thing around for those two in the truck.  But, when I saw this picture, I too saw that, as the email directed me to see.

I was wrong.  My GOD was far too small.  I cropped GOD right out of the picture, so to speak. look now at the real picture, and see how big your GOD really is.

Tim Tebow vs Me

Photo Credit: ESPN Snapshots - Read the Article

I have always been envious of those with simple faith.  You know, those that love the Lord so much that it's obvious that every move they make, every breath they take, is an offering to the Glory of the Lord. If I do that, I come off as forced and sanctimonious, and annoy more than witness.

Tim Tebow is a man that witness the right way. Don't get me wrong, he annoys too. I was listening to my favorite sports station, WEEI, and the Dennis & Callahan show, and one of the three is so touchy I would have to say he is seeking the Lord, rather than hating the idea as he professes.  Tim Tebow annoys him for sure.)  Tebow obviously has gifts and talents for athlete endeavour. Every coach he has ever had said he Works Hard, is Easy to Coach, Loves Football, is Good with Teammates and is a Good Athlete. 

Tim Tebow says " I guess, first and foremost, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." (If you want to know how Tim Tebow sees himself, visit his website.)

His life is a blue print for good witness. Work Hard, Accepts Coaching and Glorifies the Lord.

I noticed that his hard work, ethics, capability and attitude comes before his public witness.  I so often try to glorify the Lord on what I am about to do, rather than what I have already done, as if I am trying to blackmail the Lord into blessing my activity.

Recently, the NE Patriots signed Tim. He has a two year low money, for NFL players, contract, and they can fire him, so who knows if he will every suit up for the Pats.  When Coach Bill was asked why they took him, he gave the type of answer above, all about work ethics. That's what the world sees. Tim Tebow works hard. However, when the owner was asked why the picked up Tim, Mr Craft said that NE Patriots were in need of some spirituality. Wow.

Tim Tebow said, "I guess, first and foremost, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

I don't envy his paycheck, though I lament my lack of millions, (sometimes hundreds, or even tens) frequently, but I do envy the simplicity of his faith and the power of his witness combined with the peace it brings him. With all my heart I want to bring Glory to the Lord like that. Instead, I bring my broken and conflicted self.

More power to you Mr. Tebow.  Thank you for leading the way.

What's So Good About It?

What's So Good About Good Friday?

My whole life I have wondered about that. recently, since my acceptance of my salvation, I have accepted the generally given explanation with an ill feeling of incompleteness.

I was told that it was called Good Friday because when Jesus died, all of our sins were forgiven. 

1 John 1:7 (NIV) "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

That is indeed good.  So I bought in, and I taught it, yet it was never really a good explanation for me.  The other side of the equation always stuck in my throat.  What about who killed him.  in Acts 4:25 (NIV) we read, "You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.' Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen."

Pretty clear here that Paul wants us to see that it was not the Romans, the Jewish people, or even the Jewish leaders that were the reason that Jesus died, but rather, it was the will of God that his son should be sacrificed.  And why is that?  Because of my sins.  God is both Good and Just, so we can not be in communion with the father, unless a sacrifice is made, and this was the sacrifice.  

We were the hammer that drove the nails into the flesh of the living son of God.  We killed him.  I killed him.

What's so good about that?

So I kept looking for the reason.  Then it hit me when I was reading Jesus Did It Anyway, The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians by Kent M. Keith.

And there it was.  The name Good Friday has nothing to do with what we did to Jesus, but rather what Jesus did, as we were nailing him to the cross.

Look at what we did to him first:

1) We stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him, so we could mock the king,
2) We spit on him,
3) We beat him,
4) We nailed him to the cross.
Matthew 27:27-31 (ESV) "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters,and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him."
This was his response, while this was all happening:

1) He asked God to forgive those who were killing him,
2) He Hooked up his family and friends to take care of each other,
3) He told a criminal next to him, who showed faith and asked for forgiveness that he was going to heaven that very night
John 19:26-27 (ESV) "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Luke 23:42-43 (ESV) And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

That's whats Good about Good Friday.  We have a game plan, a map, and template for what we are to do to and for each other when it hits the fan, and the fan breaks.  Love each other anyway.  Just like Jesus did for us, as we used the hammer to kill him.  He loved us anyway.  We love them anyway.

Like if you think Jesus reads Facebook

Today I saw my last acceptable Picture of Jesus, with the words, "Like if you think Jesus ______, Share if you ________ Jesus.

Give me a break. Back in the 1500's a monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 points where he felt the church had missed the boat, and slipped back into Pharisitical behavior. (He did not know at the time that the world would come unglued when he did it.  When they put him on trial for his life, he refused to back down.) You know, the pharisees; the guys that made rules up so you could follow the rules, instead of the word of God. You know, the people who caused Jesus to say "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" Matthew 3:7b NIV. Luther's main point was people were being sold indulgences, a piece of paper to get them into heaven. They actually stopped going to church, because they would bring him the paper, and it "proved" they were getting into heaven without accepting Jesus as their savior.  They just bought it. Just like God read mail. Just like it really mattered. Just like the rules of man bound God. Just like Facebook making you feel compelled to ______ Jesus, or suffer the wrath of God. Again, I say Give Me A Break.

Many people complain that there is too much God on facebook. That is not what I am writing about. Seriously, if you don't want God to show up on your News Feed page, just tell facebook not to post to your news feed from people who are talking about God. If you want to be extreme, de-friend them. It's not like facebook requires you to read posts. I have either un-liked every page that has sent me one of these guilt trip post more than three times; or if it came from a friend more than 3 times, I went to their page, pushed the friend button, and unchecked the "News Feed" button. That way I am still their friend on FB, but don't have to read this stuff.

Am I saying you should NOT post about Jesus. NO. Post away. I love the Lord and I am a Jesus freak extreme, and if you are a friend of my page, or our Christian Page, Does God Serve You, you will see that I use facebook to spread the word. It is at least as good as standing on a box in a mall, and this way the people who want to know, can hear, and those who do not want to know, do not hear. This is America after all, and we are founded on the principle of individual freedom and religious freedom. That includes, by the way, the freedom not to be bothered, pestered, damned by man or forced to hear the word of God. 

Someone else allows you to pick your faith too. His name is Jesus. He died so you could be forgiven you sins, if you chose to be. He allows you to pick too. If he did not, we would all be dead. Viva la Choice.

Looking Through the Window at God's Life

Christmas Eve we attended the church we went to 20 years ago, oddly, before I was saved.  We normally attend this church Christmas Eve because they have the pomp and circumstance we expect for Christmas, including the Candle Light singing of Silent Night at the end of the service. I love that.

We miss that tradition, so we attend.  The last few years the message has drifted further and further away of the real Jesus, and closer and closer to the "Jesus was a good example of good people," type of Jesus.  I don't believe 100% of the Bible is literal, but I do believe that most of it is literal, as far as translation and historical context will allow. I also believe that it is the word of God, not the word of man or religion, so we have issue with Jesus as only a Good example, unless he is also Real and God.

So we did not expect much from this service.  We were there for the pomp, and the candles and the singing of silent night.

It's funny, God seems to know when I am being cynical, and shows up just to let me know I am being a putz.  He showed up Christmas Eve, and the pastor taught me something I had never quit thought of before.  It is still setting me back and making me think.  I have waited a week to write this down, for fear that I imagined it. I didn't, so here goes.

In business, most Christians set goals, because as we all know, "you can't get there, unless you know where there is".  Imagine, I was once told, where Christoper Columbus would have ended up if he left Spain without a plan.  Wait a minute, I always think, he did have a plan.  He was going to sail to India, and prove the world was round.  He failed on the India part.  He found Hispaniola instead.
Yet, most people still think goal setting is required.  This mystifies me. 

One of my friends, someone who used to be one of my spiritual role models, and is, in fact, one of my spiritual parent, is a real good example of goal setting gone wrong.  He told me he decided he was going to have 500 or 600 hundred karate students.  He prayed about it.  He decided God agreed, so he set about writing a plan for getting 600 student.  He almost made it. See, God helped him reach his goals.

I do not see it that way.  This, in retrospect, is how it looks to me.  He decided what he wanted.  His goal.  The he spiritualized it, by asking God to help him achieve it.  That is kinda like looking in the mirror and scrutinizing what you see, compared to what you want to see, in the light of Christ. When you see the difference, you go about make cosmetic changes, to bring the image of you closer to the image you want to see. That, for sure, is way better than never looking.  If you just did what you wanted to do, and never checked your behavior or your motives against the Word or the Spirit (the mirrors in this example), you would be living as most people, and most Christians do.  You would be living on your own power.  So what he did, by checking his behavior in the mirror, after he had decided what his behavior was going to be, is a level of maturity that most of us do not have the courage to achieve.  So I followed him, for I was not even close to being able to do that at the time.

It did not work out so well.  Goals kept feeling like me holding up my own power and plans to the Lord, and asking him to bless them. You know what I mean, I think. An example would be, Lord, I took this job because it gave me a chance to earn more money.  Thank you God for giving me this blessing.  Please help me reach my income goals so I can be a better (father, husband, wife, mother, provider.)  It seemed like I was asking God to Bless MY plans.

So I stopped.  I began asking God to tell me what I should do.  I don't "hear" God, or "see" God as some people do.  I see him in my history and the blessings that occur around me, and in the nudging I get in prayer and from my pastor and fellow Sunday School teachers, my students and their families. Or, sometimes, from the overwhelming conviction that a certain behavior, lesson or action is necessary of me.  Then I do it.

Mostly, I am nudged by my current spiritual advisers to teach, and stop freaking out about it.  I am reminded by actions, words and testimony that my gift is teaching and leading.  So that is what I do.  Whenever I slip into to goal setting or business, I, and everyone around me, fails.  Worse, I get ill, physically and mentally, and am unable to exercise my gift of teaching.  So I stop doing that more and more every day and week. (As I have TBI, when I say I get ill, I mean ILL.  Vomiting, headaches, GI issues, panic attacks and more.)

Then, during one of my spiritual crisis's, Christmas arrived, and we went to the service I mentioned above, for the pomp.

The pastor said, freaking me out quit a bit, "most Christians see Jesus' life as a mirror.  I encourage you to see it as a window."  Don't decide to look at what you already are, and what you are already are doing, and then change it based on what you see in the mirror, when you read the bible or contemplate on the life of Christ. You see, I had finally discovered how to use Jesus as a mirror, and I thought of it in those words. It was like he was talking to me.  I really hate when that happens, as it is happening, because it is hard for me to remember that it is the Spirit of the Lord rather than him actually knowing.  Paranoia is also part of TBI.  I wanted to get up and leave.  If I could have, without being noticed I would have.

Rather, he suggested, look at the life of Jesus as a Window into the world of Jesus, the only perfect man, and START everything in your life with what you see in through the window, rather than modifying what you are already doing. Don't decide what you want, and then go do it, but rather see what Jesus would do and want, in your situation, and go do that.  Have faith, he encouraged us, in the life of the Christ, and model your life, your business and your actions after him.  Do as he would do.

So, instead of putting a band aid on you actions, that you have decided on, and you have controlled, build the New Man, and rebuild from what you see through the window of the Bible and Jesus' life.

Wow.

Ouch.

Wow.

But, I hesitate to write the next part.  

So What?

Honestly, for me, knowing that you need to model your life after Jesus is ground breaking, but nearly useless.  

Just how do you do that?  

It is almost to the point of Christian Ease or Slang, which reminds me of a video that one of my friends posted a link to on facebook.com.  I show it to you here, for you amusement, but also so you know that I, and perhaps you, are not the only one that hears the words, understands the words, but have no idea how to do it.

So, since this was such a kick in the pants to me, I am going to share with you how I can do this through the window modeling, without turning it into Christian Ease.

I have friends, a spouse and and adult child who are all strong Christians, to whom I go to for advise.  My personal board of directors, if you will.  This is critical for me, since I have a major brain injury, and I live in a world of self doubt, confusion, loss of impulse control, depression, migraines, illness and paranoia from the dark side of hell.  I find it hard to see good in anything I do but find it easy to see the harm and evil in everything I do.  And yet, I have just begun to see through the window, and am beginning to model my actions after the Lord.

I found out what my gift was.  Jesus was the disciples pastor.  He guided them, pushed them, and told them when he had to, what to do and not do.  I asked and still ask my pastor, and my "board of directors," what my gifts are.  Nearly every day.  They have to be sick of telling me, but that is the life of TBI.  I am still in shock that I can teach, when before and after teaching and Sunday School, or at karate, I am ill.  I immediately seek feedback, so I don't spend too much time under the covers in my bed, hiding from reality.  They told me my gifts. 

You should ask your family, pastor and friends what your gifts are.  They can pray about it, but they probably already see it.  I am told, that we are the last to know what are gifts are, because they seem so natural to us.  I teach as I breath, without thinking or effort, so I would never have know.

You should be thankful for your Gift to the Lord.  In that act of being thankful, you admit that you are aware of what God wants you to do with your life.  It is really hard to ignore God's plans for you if you know that he knows that you know.  So thank him, with words, in prayer.  Every day, or as the Bible suggests, always. Thankfulness is also good, because it prevents ego from getting in the way.  It is really easy, once you know you are good at something, Holy Spirit good, to look at others and notice they are NOT good or at least not as good as you.  The next most natural reaction is to take credit for it yourself, and rub other peoples faces in it.  That is nuts.  Be thankful, and your Ego will stay in check.  I have done it many times the ME way. When I finally discover how pompous my actions and life has become, it hurts.  In my case, it drives me away from everyone, as depression and paranoia take over. Be thankful.

Ask for wisdom in using your gift.  Clearly, one of the things you see through the window of the Bible is Solomon asking for wisdom to use the many gifts that God gave him.  How well did that work our for him?  He lost control of his ego, even though he was the wisest man that would ever live, short of Jesus.  He lost control.  We have the Holy Spirit, thanks to Jesus' sacrifice, so we have a power he did not have to draw on, but even he asked for wisdom.  Model you life after that picture through the window.  I ask for it daily.  It slows me down, and allows me to see, feel and understand the Spirit actions in my life. I have been told that "feelings" are not good to follow, but recently, I have begun to feel the spirit is my life.  It is kinda super cool.

So, live your life by looking through the window God has given us into how we are to live.  Model your future life by that picture, rather than changing superficial behaviors or justifying current actions.  God already has a plan for you, and it is Up to Him, if it is going to be.  You just have to look through the window, and do everything you can to follow the example.

Day 29 - Hang in There - Daily Inspirational Verses from Real Life

Philippians 3:20-21 - (ESV): "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."

Want some really good news?  

Your a citizen of Heaven, and the man in charge is God.  He and his angel armies will guide you, guard you and eventually you will get your new Body, as a right of being a citizen of Heaven.

Seriously, what problem could possible overcome you and what fear could hold you down, when all you have to do is remember where you are from.

So, whatever is bothering you, be brave, and hang in there.

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For information on be certain of your Status with God, overcoming your actions that keep you from God, and allowing you to accept his free gift of eternal life, Click Here.

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