Christ mas

It is Christmas Eve.

The day before Christmas.

That is exciting. But why?

Well, for some people it’s a grand holiday that is centered by food, parties, presents bought & given, happy children, Santa Claus & fun.

But for us it is far more than that. Yes we enjoy the other things but we realize that it is much more. It is a celebration of the time when God showed His ultimate love for us by sending us His son and making us a part of His family!

So enjoy this time of year but remember why it is ultimately special.

I have been thinking about this for a long long time but what kept me from writing about it is that I was worried that people wouldn’t get it and be offended. So I have waited and now I am ready. Did I solve the potential problem? No, but I have thought it through. So here it goes:

When children are born they have no standards because everything is new to them. But as humans WE THINK THAT WE KNOW WHAT THE STANDARDS ARE and so we teach them to our children. Everything does, books, stories, songs & TV, why do you think we have nursery rhymes?

And children learn very quickly that they must meet these standards because depending on how they measure up to the standards they will be labeled. And as we get older although the standards change in name or content the purpose is the same.

So if we meet those standards then we are good enough and successful and if we do not then we work harder to achieve them.

I regularly attend a Sunday school class for handicapped adults and I am now a part of a very handicapped family.

What does the class do? And why is it important?

Good questions!

Without the class handicapped people would have nowhere to go. Most people, even at Churches, don’t have a place for them and think they do not belong in Church.

So for 42 years I was normal, successful & belonged in Church & had it made in life? Yes.

But why not now?

Well, at 42 I was severely attacked and beaten. I lost my job, my education, all people and possessions, my future and I cannot walk.

So without these people I would be up a creek without a paddle. But I’m not.

I still cannot walk or remember my education, but I do have God.

Am I still successful? By the World’s standards No, but by God’s standards YES.

I am very happy to be where I am.

As

Do you remember what the first thing was that Satan did? He thought he was just as good as God.

He tried to make them think that they wouldn’t die even though God had said that they would.

He has always tried to be or make people believe that he was just as good as God. That makes no sense at all! The created being just as good as the Creator?

And even though he now knows better he’s still trying to do the same thing.

But we too know better and we believe the truth. No one is greater than the Creator!

And that makes life so much simpler! The only complicated and difficult parts of life belong to Satan not God. So that WE can find solutions because obviously God hasn’t. Can’t thing be better than they are?

Gee, doesn’t that sound familiar?

You’re not going to die…

But they died.

So from this moment on we can know that we have been created by God and every part of our lives has been planned by Him. So nothing is uncalled for, should have happened differently, or needs to change.

Our Father will always be our Father.

It is amazing how I can see things that I think are NEW! They have probably always been there but they’re new to me now.

I have noticed that people are super focused on THEMSELVES. They think that EVERYTHING and I mean everything is up for evaluation and if something doesn’t match their standards, then it’s wrong.

And so human success is evaluated similarly. There are things that people say are examples of success and correctness and so people follow those examples. But, who sets examples for God? No one, and is God successful? Now you are trying to set standards that you cannot because you can create absolutely nothing but God creates everything.

So reality is more than you can know, success is more than you can know and wealth is more than you can know! In fact everything is much more than you can know! But nothing is more than God can do or know!!

So relax! He is capable and He is in charge and YOU are not!

Everything that I see today says I can make things better. People must be able to succeed at everything!

But without commercials or convincing, God is able to make EVERYTHING better and SUCCEED at everything.

God doesn’t have to buy or try anything or convince anyone to do this He just does it because He can!

A commercial for Macy’s says to a young child “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause…”.

The REAL truth is that there is a December sales total that has to be met in order to keep stores open and people working, so people are EXPECTED to shop for the holidays.

That really bothers me. Imagine telling children “YES, there is a God” and making them happy & looking forward to being with Him. Imagine that.

Sales and profit would no longer be so important but faith would! And we would teach children, sing songs and throw parties!

I can imagine that!

We could do this!

Disney's Snow White was one of the first movies & stories that I remember. It is truly a "happily ever after" story. And many of the rides at Disneyland reference his story.

Unfortunately Walt Disney and all Disney creations things of this World.

But God created this World and Walt Disney and all of his creations.

But God's story is a real (forever) "happily ever after" story. It's not a Walt Disney story but you can really have it!

So now that you know that, which story do you choose?

Eph 2:9-10
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works , which God prepared in advance for us to do.
NIV

Read the above verse very closely.

People seem to think that they have to be something good to be something good. But is that why were here? To be something good? Does being something good mean we have done well and our efforts are worth it?

In reference to the verse above, why were we made? By God to do His good works.

His works.

Wait just one moment. Are you saying that everything is about Him and not us?

Yes I am.

He prepared works, good works in advance for us to do.

Are you saying that we can’t make it or do well in this world? No, but what I am saying is that “in this world” only applies to “this world”. You may get money or things. However, in the next world your accomplishments here will not apply.

So what should we do?

Well, first of all accept the fact that you were made to do His works like it says in the Bible. So now accomplishment means something totally different! Life on earth isn’t just about you, it’s about Him.

That’s 100% opposite of what the world teaches you. And Satan is 100% different from God. And Satan runs this world, but God is still in control and He will run the next world, and He has eyes now.

So to teach people and realize that the Bible is correct and that we are here to do His good works is why we’re here.

Human Christians


I read the Bible all of the time and in fact I’ve read it completely many times. But the one thing that I see I’m sure is not a “today” thing. What I see is that people seem to think that they MUST BE GOOD ENOUGH! Now, that totally blows me away because I have not been good but God constantly takes care of me. And God came to this Earth because He knew that we couldn’t be.

So did He come to teach us that we could be good enough?

I don’t think so.

The Bible says that “While we were still sinners Christ died for us”. So way before we were good enough He loved us enough to come for us.

Yes, we have been saved but who we were is who we are.

Salvation means He has chosen to be with us. You see, He is the one who changed – because of Jesus. It has been decided and it is done! It’s not up to us!! And it won’t be. Satan has tried his best to make us think that it is, but it’s not. It’s up to God.

That changes things quite different.

Xmas

It’s nearly December, so it’s nearly Christmas.

But unfortunately this World celebrates this day very differently from Christians.

The World has invented other things to make this a more world like holiday which does not require faith. Therefore things like Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, the elves, Santa’s home, Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, songs and the like have been invented by humans for humans and they have been quite successful.

There is a commercial for Kmart layaway and one that shows elves & says “we’re shopping for Santa but our bonuses don’t come until December.”

But Christmas is totally different from things that we can do or buy. We can’t make Christmas happen! God made Christmas happen. And it’s not about what we get or if we are happy! It’s about God loving us, more than we can know and giving us the ultimate gifts: His family, His prescience and eternal life with Him!

So the next time you see a commercial for Christmas (there are no commercials for Salvation) or see a picture or hear a song about the World’s Christmas, remember that there is really much much more to Christmas than you can create, so think about God & make sure that children know the truth.

Today I realized that I’ve been tested to see if I’ll walk with God.

This morning I got an email from my estranged wife telling me that beyond being a horrible husband I was also a horrible father to my children and it upset me.

But I still went to Church and class and right away I remembered how one time Jesus said who is my family? Then He said (pointing to those who were with Him) you are.

Then the pastor was quoting some scripture that said that hard times would come to those who believed. And I thought I believe and while remembering all of the rejection that I have had and at the same time much acceptance from those at Church, I thought these are hard times and the scriptures warned that these would occur, I began to feel much better.

And all of the sudden I thought I’m glad that I’m back here cuz when what’s happening agrees with what the scriptures say, so something is correct!

Society says that God does only proper things thus if something is wrong it’s because you are wrong.

But then why does The Word of God say that bad things will happen to those who believe?

Because God is not running this World, Satan is and Satan thinks he’s better than God so he wants to screw God believers up!

So it’s much better to just view things as God says and avoid the unnecessary anger & emotion.

At least that’s what I believe.

Has God been good to me?

Let me take a moment to tell you some things and you can answer that.

I was relentlessly abused when I was growing up.

I was at one time diagnosed as having Fibromyalgia, but I don’t have it.

When I went to Malaysia I was bitten many times by Monkeys, got extremely ill and was diagnosed to have Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), but I don’t have it.

I was attacked and beaten up, robbed, my car stolen and my brain stem broken and all of the educated medical adult humans said that I would die or be a vegetable 9 years ago and counting and I’m neither one.

My parents won’t talk to me but so what.

My sister and her husband severely neglected me, abused me and sued me for more than $10,000.00 and won.

My wife and 2 of my 3 sons have abandoned me.

I have had a rough life but I’m happy. Why? Because God has been good to me. I could complain, but why should I? I have had BIG things come at me again and again but regardless of what it was God has never left me. He has always carried me through everything.

I see many things today that DO NOT MAKE SENSE to me at all. For example, I watched HGTV exclusively because I thought that is was clean. I thought it was. But what I have been shown by the Lord is that it is all about the world and very contrary to God.

At first I was offended by the name of a show called Divine Design. It had nothing to do with God only the designer. Then I began to realize that people always said “I love this or that”.

And I thought love? Why do they say “love”? Love doesn’t mean Like or that makes me happy and it’s not what the Bible says!

In John 3:16 it says:

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
NIV


This didn’t mean that God felt good about the world or that the world made Him happy. No. We were ALL sinners but He loved us. God does not sin but we do. God does not allow sin to be in His prescience but He adopted us into His family.

So clearly Love means much more that something that is felt about things!

And society is misusing Love today!

What goes on when I am asleep? I honestly have absolutely no idea. But, ever morning something that I think is new comes to my mind and I think about writing to you.

So, what goes on when I am asleep? I don’t know but I do know what I always do…I think things through and do some research and then write them down, read it over and then send it to you.

This morning was no exception.

As I was eating breakfast I was thinking.

When Jesus was born He was called Immanuel which means God with us. In Matthew 8 when the Apostles were in the boat with Jesus and the storm came up and scared them didn’t they know that they were with Immanuel? Evidentially not.

So I should be more understanding of those who get upset over things because the Apostles were human and God put that in His word and people are human too and they can read.

And sometimes life on Earth can be very upsetting to us, but God made us that way!

I am extremely blessed because I see things in a completely different light, but God made me that way too!

I just don’t get it. I have tried and tried but I can’t.

So often people (who know that they were created by God) look only at what is going on right now in their lives in this world and they are unhappy. They never just look at their creator for satisfaction.

Believe me, I have been through some extremely bad times. But I know who created everything that I know and I know why I’m here and there I’m going and I believe it so I am happy.

I also know that this is my personal and individual choice. But to me it seems so obvious that I simply do not understand why others do not see it and why they’re not happy.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever and you can see evidence of this over and over in the Bible. So I just don’t understand why people don’t see it and believe it and they seem to fixate on their lives here on this earth and they’re not happy.

If you think that your life on this Earth is very long just think about how long forever will be…

Overcome

I know, I’m weird. This morning while eating breakfast I thought about this and wanted to share it with you so I had to do some research and write it all down. So it took some time because I want to always be sure that what I share is correct (at least according to me) and complete.

The word overcome according to my dictionary means:
Overcome: to conquer, to make helpless or exhausted.

In the scriptures one of the verses says:
1 John 4:4

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
NIV

So, according to my research, overcome means to conquer and we have overcome the World because of the One who is in us.

Now, think about that. It’s pretty astounding! As humans everything that we can see or think or do is of this World but because of the One who lives in us WE HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!

So now nothing that we see or think or do is just a normal thing, it’s a God thing! We’re not of this World, we have overcome it!

Finally, so much makes sense to me!

Why am I alive?

I have gone through 8 months with no pneumonia. How is that possible?

And several other things that I won’t name.

Why?

Because the One who is in me has overcome the World. So what I can see and think and do is not of this World. Things are on His terms now not my terms.

And that explains why this World is not my home. I’m just passing through. On His terms not mine and the World doesn’t see things that way.

Nope.

If the World can’t see it then it isn’t real. And because of that it can be difficult at times for us to imagine.

That’s why I view my human life as such a blessing from God.

Because continually according to this World I should be humanly dead but I’m not.

When I first started writing someone said to me: Do you always have to be right? And honestly I thought: Yes, I do! And I thought some more and even prayed about it and now I would respond: No, I don’t. But I know who is…God! I do not have to be right, that’s not what’s important anymore, but knowing that God is right, now that’s important. He is my God. And the fact that I could even ponder that question at all is His work.

Yes, I have given everything over to Him. And that’s where it belongs.

Imagine…


Imagine is not a new word, no God used this word in the scriptures:

Eph 3:20-21

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine , according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
NIV

But what does it mean? Imagine means to see or picture something in your mind.

So when someone says It’s more than I could imagine that means it’s more than I could see in my mind.

Originally imagine was something very special and to exceed your imagination was something that only God could do. Only spiritual involvement and no human involvement.

However nowadays imagine has been redefined and normal humans can do this.

I watch HGTV exclusively because I thought it was clean. But I have seen the term imagine used repeatedly to simply describe people’s reaction to what a designer has done for them. So in other words the result is far more than what they had seen in their minds, so it’s more than they had expected.

However, imagine actually and originally meant far more than a person actually do. It meant something that only God could do. So to redefine it is actually pretty risky. And I don’t think that’s good.

I am having an extremely rough time. Why? As a human I just don’t know, and honestly as a Christian I’m obviously not following what the scriptures say. For example, Jesus told us that we would have problems in this World, but He said: “I have overcome this World.”

Also in Rom 8:38-39 Paul says:
38 For I am convinced that nothing xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV

So what’s my problem?

What exactly don’t I understand?

I understand it all. I understand that Jesus said that we’ll have trouble. I also understand that Paul said that nothing will separate us from the love of God, and I am alive today and living very well.

So what’s my problem?

There’s nothing going on in me that wasn’t also going on in the Apostles.

Were they all perfect? No. Were their lives all wonderful & pleasant? No. But they lived in this World like I do and like you do too and they had faith so no matter what happened they believed.

And that’s what I have to do. I have to have enough faith to believe that even though there are problems for me in this World and things aren’t happening the way that I would like for them to, God is still God and they will be very different in Heaven.

You may need to do that too.

I’m thankful that I can. And I’m thankful that even though I’m having very difficult times I can think like this.

I had a horrible and I mean HORRIBLE problem this morning. Horrible.

But I felt God’s presence even though it was bad.

No, I can’t say that I handled it perfectly and erased the fact that it had occurred, although I’d like to, but I am moving forward through this day.

The steps that I did take so far to correct it were absolutely impossible for me to do. But I did them, and I did them fine. Why? God helped me.

Many times while I was doing them I was totally shocked! But I knew that the only reason that I was able to keep going was that God was far stronger than what I was trying to do. Circumstances are not circumstances to God. He created even my circumstances.

My wife says that I’m stupid, but I don’t think so. I have God.

Last night some really serious, bad & good things happened. Just the fact that I can write to you today says that bad things may happen but nothing is bigger than God.

I could go through the list event by event but the most important part is what God did.

In brief someone was out to kill me and while the world just couldn’t help me, God could and did!

You should know that He is always watching and He can help you far more than anyone else or anything else can!

So today I have a whole human life because of Him. In fact every day I have a whole human life because of Him.

Life

For most people their life is a challenge that they have to conquer. But to me it is not a challenge that I have to conquer, no, it is very simply based on whatever God chooses to make happen.

I have recently been faced with some absolutely humongous challenges.

I have moved to another city where I have lost my roommate, my friends, my medical help, my Church and my transportation.

I have now lost my wife and my family.

As a human I’ve lost everything and I mean everything.

Most days I just sit at home. I never go outside. I have to manage all of my finances online because I cannot write checks. I just take each day as it comes. And on top of that I’m happy!

Because I know that God loves me. Life is not a challenge for me, it’s His choice.

I never know if I will live or die but knowing and believing that He gives and takes life gives me unbelievable comfort.

Just knowing that the future is His takes the pressure off of me. It’s not up to what I do, it’s His choice, not mine, because frankly I can do nothing.

And to know that He chose to teach me that makes me feel very blessed.

This is a long way from where I was. A long way. I was an executive for an airline owned company and I traveled all over the world. I was highly successful by the world’s standards but God brought me to where I am today.

Yes, I’m blessed, but so are you.

Now we can look at life much differently. The World tries to teach us to believe that everything is up to us, but it’s not. It’s true that this applies to this World but remember who is in control of this World and who controls where we are going.

All of the sudden success isn’t what we used to think it was.

Success in this World applies only to this World, not where we are going to be forever. Our lives may or may not be long, but this World is not going to be here forever, and our ancestry will not last forever, but we will.

So the next time you wonder about the future, think about forever. And you don’t have to wonder at all because forever is His and He gave it to us.

God’s Love

As adults & humans we think that we have Love all figured out. But we don’t.

What we understand & feel is ALL human & God is NOT human. Don’t forget, He created humans. So Love is far beyond each of us.

In the Old Testament God tried again and again to show His Love, but people had a hard time seeing past themselves, so when the time was right, because of His Love, He figured out what to do & sent His son.

The Bible clearly states that it would be possible for someone to give their life for a righteous man but NOT for an unrighteous person. And unfortunately we were all unrighteous. Totally.

So once again God was showing His Love. Did we see it? No we killed Him. But God’s Love stayed strong.

And it’s just as strong today!

God is the same yesterday, today & forever. So His Love will always be there. I don’t understand it but I receive it every moment of every day! And I accept it. That’s what faith is all about.

No, it’s not something that I can see and clearly understand. Nope. But I do receive it and so I know it’s there. So now I’m telling you.

I don’t know of anyone else that’s like me. For God to look at MY LIFE and Love ME is far beyond anything that I can comprehend. But He did.

This morning I was thinking I am not in a good place right now and then I realized God loves me so that’s a great place to be!

I've now been to court, I've testified & it's done (without any incident). So I'll have to wait now to hear what the Judge decides. But regarless of the decision, I felt His help and that's all I need.

Last night I didn’t sleep well and yet another song was going through my head. It said God is here. He is with us telling us to trust in Him. What a thing! After a difficult night, I needed to hear that!

He is so incredibly patient with us. We’re quick to say that we’re just passing through but it’s not easy to say that we’re just spectators. Yet in Psalms is says:
16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
So, He has already seen our life before! What is going to happen WILL HAPPEN and although we haven’t seen it before, today WILL HAPPEN because it already has. It’s just a rerun.

That’s difficult at best for me to accept this, and it may be for you too. I’m going to court today and I’m wondering what will happen and hoping for results but it has already happened and God himself knows it and has approved it, so it will happen. It’s just a rerun.

I just need to simply accept that, and so do you. That’s a completely different perspective on life. Completely different and difficult to accept. Very difficult. But the scriptures are God’s word. So it’s true.

Today is already a difficult day, and it’s only 4A.M.

Yesterday was very difficult too.

The day before was extremely difficult as well.

I don’t know what tomorrow will be but I’m not going to hold my breath…

Unbeknownst to me my alarm went off this morning and woke me up. I tried to go back to bed and I couldn’t.

But this song kept playing over and over in my head saying: Holy, Holy, Holy God… And I decided: That’s not common especially at 4 in the morning so I decided to get up again and write to you.

So, I got back up intent on writing to you, but I choked very strongly on my pills and decided to go quickly to solve a problem from yesterday and my Internet connection would not return the right results, so yet another bad day? Or should I listen again to the words of that song?

So I listened. And I thought: This is not just another bad day, no listen to the song. It’s telling you not to believe it’s just another bad day, it’s reminding you that He’s holy. End of story. He would never leave you, He wouldn’t, so He’s there and He’s holy, no matter what happens in this World. You’re ok, because He’s with you. Think again…

And so I wrote to you first.

Yes, after 3 bad days the last thing that I needed to worry about was how holy God was… But maybe I should think about it.

You know that when BAD piles up, it’s easy and common to just think that you’re all alone and what you believe in has failed you, but that’s Satan’s goal.

I was just eating breakfast and I thought I am in a different place now…

Before, I was probably fairly normal. Intelligent but a normal person. But now, I’m not a normal person at all. No, normality said that I should be dead or a vegetable, but I’m not.

Every day is filled with things that seem good to me.

Last week I attended a board meeting on the phone and I wrote many things down, followed the instructions, knew who would be there, anticipated responses and all the while I managed a service person at my home!

Now if that’s not more than I could ask or imagine then excuse me, it was! Looking back, I was shocked!

Then I started realizing that my mere existence is controlled by God! He is always there. He controls my sleep and everything that I do. My life on this Earth is possible because of Him. I’m in an extremely different place now. And it’s been nearly 9 years since my attack and I’m still alive and still progressing!

Before, everything was about me, but I found Christ, had faith, and now everything is about Him. This is an extremely different place to be when compared to a usual person that is in this world. I do recall noting that even before my attack. That tells me that there is a purpose for me. There always has been and there always will be.

Think about it. Really. Think about it. When I go to sleep He’s there, He stays there by me when I’m asleep. He keeps me alive. He’s there when I wake up and begin each day. He’s there when I go through each day, all through each day until I go to bed each night. He’s always there.

He is there with you too.

Oh yeah, I’m blessed but so are you.

This is not just me, it’s about you too!

Unmerited


Unmerited very simply means: undeserved. God’s Grace is undeserved favor from Him even though when Christ came we were all sinners.

You didn’t do anything to earn forgiveness from God, it was given to you. You weren’t changed but you were accepted by God as you are.

People have always assumed that they have been made acceptable if they are accepted by God. But that is not true! They have been accepted. Period. That’s what makes Grace unbelievable.

It’s more than you can possibly imagine. We know what God wants and we’re clearly not there, but we have been accepted by God. That is unbelievable. Even more than you know.

In songs and prayers I hear: Create in me a clean heart & make me clean again…and I often wonder what it means.

Because even when we were unacceptable to God, He gave us Jesus and Grace. We were not changed, that is not possible, no, we were given Grace. We are still the same people and we do what we do, but against all odds we have been forgiven and accepted.

Even the Apostle Paul initially had problems believing and understanding this! Remember his stones that he prayed about? No one actually knows what his stones were but he was afraid that he was unacceptable to God, but Jesus told him that His grace was sufficient and the “stones” were not changed.

So my point is that you need to believe what “has been done” for you. Not where you should be or want to be. You have been given grace & you are accepted by God.

Paul’s stones didn’t matter and neither do yours.

Our Father


When I woke up this morning a song was playing in my mind. It is simply called Our Father and it reminds me of this verse.

Matt 6:9-10
"This, then, is how you should pray:

"'Our Father in heaven ,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
NIV

It played over and over in my mind and I thought There are certainly worse things that could be on my mind and so after a time I thought maybe it’s here for a reason and so I decided to think about it and write to you.

So I copied & pasted the verse for you and did some analysis on it:

Matt 6:9-10
"This, then, is how you should pray:
This came from Jesus, The Father’s son.
"'Our Father in heaven ,
Notice that He said “Our”. So He is “our” Father,
hallowed be your name,
He is to be respected and praised,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
Everything is about Him,
on earth as it is in heaven.
On Earth AND in Heaven
NIV

We live for Him.

His actual son said: OUR Father.

Now, for me this makes me feel very good! Nothing that happens on this Earth or has happened in the past takes precedence over this! Life can be confusing (and it is!) but nothing can or will change this.

No matter who is on the phone or in your workspace or who is expecting anything from you or who they are, nothing takes precedence over the fact that He’s our father.

This was not taught to Christians alone, no these were normal human beings just like you and I. He is our father. And He is to be respected and praised, and He WILL BE whether or not we believe in Him.

In short: It’s not up to us, it’s up to Him. That is 100% different from what this World teaches us!


His will WILL be done AND His kingdom WILL come and notice where it say’s that it will happen…ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

Looking at that now and analyzing that now makes me feel much better and so should you too!

What happened to me?

This question probably sounds silly to you but it seems very real to me. It’s almost been 9 years since my brutal attack that I don’t remember, and I honestly don’t know a thing about what has happened to me.

I know that I have some handicaps now but I’m still striving to help people and I want to build a future but I don’t know where to go.

Just the fact that I have a future at all is a miracle, but what to do with it is what I don’t know.

I have prayed about this. I would like to be a support to and an audience for others who have had a brain stem injury, but I don’t know who to do it.

I don’t know of any groups that are like this. There’s no one to say: Ok, this is where you are and this is what you will experience and this is what you can expect. It seems simple enough, but it’s not there.

I have been to many therapies, but therapy is just a way to make people be a certain way, and if you cannot be “that way” then you are not wanted anymore. But you are still you and you cannot do this on your own. You need some help but where can you get it?\


There must be others like me and I cannot even imagine how they must be feeling but I want to help them.

Your suggestions would be most helpful.

Society

I have been given the opportunity to see many things quite differently than I used to and than most people do. Case in point: I am alive and although I do have some disabilities, I am extremely close to being normal and that’s because God is God.

Now that is easy for me to accept but the thing that is really difficult for me to accept is that Society has made God into something that suits them. Society has redefined God and most people just think that’s OK.

So they are followers of their own definitions and the real God is left out in the cold. These beliefs, and yes there are many, are called Religions and everything about them is protective.

Now excuse me but God made us and controls us. He doesn’t need to be redefined or even defined and He does not need to be protected. He is God regardless of anything that we do and that makes me very happy and satisfied!

But because that is not a religion, Society does not like that. They are much happier and more fulfilled if THEY have defined things and THEIR NEEDS are being met.

And that’s what the Old Testament is filled with! Then Jesus came and lived and died FOR US, and we have been GIVEN grace. Eph 2 says that it is NOT by anything that we could do, it was a gift.

So why if that’s true and the old law has been done away with at such a huge cost does Society feel the need to recreate the old law with new laws (religions)? Jesus already did that because the law didn’t work! So laws (religions) won’t work today!

I think that people just need to relax and let God be God and be thankful for what they have been GIVEN.

Things would be a lot easier.

As humans, we constantly do a very bad thing and we think that it’s ok and expected of us because of where we worship God but it’s not. What could that be? Evaluation. Evaluation of events could be helpful, but the evaluation of people and what they do is not.

Why not? Good question! Very simply put: it’s not our job, it’s Gods and God’s alone.

We wont ever be in charge now or in judgment, but God is.

Unfortunately there are many religions and people who have a habit of basing what they do on what people do and that is called being judgmental.



The Bible is extremely clear on this:
Matt 7:1-2
7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
NIV

So, don’t judge others! Their lives are between them and God, NOT YOU! Not man made rules!

Your job is to love them. When Jesus came to this earth we were all sinners and lost. But now we are forgiven, not sinless but forgiven. We now have the gift of God’s grace. We haven’t changed one bit but we have been forgiven and accepted by God as we are. That is what makes it so wonderful and amazing.

Having gone through the transition of being a genius and very successful to a TBI and handicapped and poor myself, one thing has not changed for me at all: God is God and I am not.

People are people and God made them, so regardless of what they do, I don’t have to evaluate them or choose to do what they do because that’s between us and God alone, no I can only love them. So that’s my job, yours too.

Who Cares?


I have been reading through Job and I have learned many things about God that I thought were important so I wanted to pass on to you.

Horrible things happen to Job over and over again. But God finally stepped in and talked to Job in chapter 38. And the things that He said really got me to thinking, so read them and think about them!

He was very clear and talked about some of the things that He had done. When He talked about things it made all of them make good sense and it made me think too. They should make you think too.

God created everything and He makes everything behave properly so that we can depend on it and gain something positive out of it.

But in John 16:33 He tells us clearly that in this world we will have trouble! But then He says to take heart because He has overcome the world.

So what does that mean? Will there be no trouble? No. Job had a great deal of trouble too but he believed in God. His faith needed some adjustment, but he had faith.

So our faith may need some adjustment. Mine did.

No matter what you may be reading now, read the book of Job! I did and my faith has grown and changed! I read The Message and I think that it is easy to understand. It’s a part of God’s word for a very good reason.

There is a commercial on television for Travelers Insurance and it says that at one time there were people who were concerned with all kinds of things like shopping carts and dust but now with Travelers Insurance they just say: Who cares?

Well, certainly Travelers Insurance can’t make bad things not happen, so there isn’t really any Who Cares? It is just a commercial to increase business, and increasing business means increasing dollars in this world.

But we have God. And while God didn’t make all of Job’s troubles go away or not happen, He won’t make ours go away or not happen either. He is capable and He does watch us, but faith doesn’t mean a perfectly simple and wonderful life on this earth. In Heaven yes, but on earth no.


Even though God created this earth and does create each person in it, one angel that He also created, Satan, also rules this earth, but not Heaven. God will rule there, and if you have real faith then you will go there.

So when bad things happen on this earth, and they will, if we have real faith, then we can really say Who Cares? Because we will know where we are going and who will be in charge.

Yes, this life will be hard, but the next life in Heaven won’t. There’s your hope!

Grace and God

Everyone knows what Grace is and how awesome it is and that it was a gift to us from God.

Everyone also knows and believes that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

But few know the perceived correlation between these two things, but this morning I feel that I have been shown the relationship between the two and I’m sharing it with you.

Now if God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, then Grace wasn’t something brand new to God. I refer you Adam and Eve-the FIRST human beings.

Did they support God’s will? No. And after they made their choice to do so God removed them from the Garden to become like you and I. And we are the same as them, and God has given us Grace.

Unmerited love and favor. That’s God.

So we can see that Grace was nothing new God. Yes, they had to leave and begin a totally new life and yes, they suffered many consequences and yes they began to die, in time, but not right away.

Couldn’t they simply have been extinguished by the God who had made them? Yes, but something else came into play there.

Could it have been God’s Gracc? Maybe, because God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and He gave us Grace, so He always has known Grace.

I could be wrong but this appears to me to be the first demonstration of God’s Grace and it has always been there.

CompassionArt

Compassion is who I am.

A good friend gave me a CD that was called CompassionArt and inside the case was a CD and a DVD. I listened to the CD (it was very good!) and there was also a DVD that I then watched and it was good.

So here were these people, all extremely successful as Christian musicians coming together to write songs and work together and study and worship together and drop all boundaries to make music that would earn money for the poor in the World.

I was totally enthralled by all of this. Here were people who, some of whom, I actually remembered, coming together and doing this! It was huge! And I initially thought that this would teach me something that I didn’t realize about compassion.

But after a while I realized that I am compassion, not where they see the need, but I am compassion.

I have learned some simple things though. For example, I will stop using hair color because there were men, at least at my age, who let their grey hair show. Popular men who could have afforded anything, but they let their grey hair show!

So I did learn things like that, but I also learned that compassion is compassion wherever you show it. They saw the need across the ocean and formed a way to meet it. It took a great deal of commitment and work but they did it and I’m proud of them.

However, I also learned that it’s ok to show compassion here too! I see the need for compassion everywhere and I strive to meet it wherever I can.

No, it’s not across the Ocean and No, I don’t have thousands of dollars & nothing spare, but it is CompassionArt nonetheless!

To Know

This is such a critical part of the Human lifestyle and existence and a value of success in this World.

God gave us this ability to know things, but mankind has and continues to define and redefine it to suit their acceptable needs.

Think about it. Schools, jobs, courts and income (to name just a few) are defined by it, so basically the entirety of our human life is dependant on it.

Everything and I mean everything is based on what YOU do or do not know. But God (knowing how this would turn out) took it one small step further: He said that Spiritual things would be more than we could ask or imagine. So, in effect they would be more than we would or could know.

Wow. That says a lot. Today and every day.

But since “to know” is such a huge part of the Human life unfortunately even though God has already helped us “to know” in His word and continues to give us more than we could ask or imagine in our every day lives we have included “to know” in our Churches too!

And “to know” is not Godlike or Christian, however to see and recognize and be thankful for receiving more than we could ask or imagine is.

I encourage each person to read this and understand this and apply this. Because it makes no sense at all to Humans but it makes total sense to God.

I have just noticed something in me that I want to tell you about. I am not telling you this because I am proud of it, no I am telling you this because it is not from me, it is a gift and I’m happy that it has been given to me.

I don’t know when I actually got it but I have been pleased to see that I actually have compassion for others! I have wondered about myself for quite some time because there are times when others just want to hurt me and I feel many things, but compassion is not one of them.

I have wondered if I am wrong and I’ll just have to wait until judgment to find out. But just evaluating (my personal opinion) my current friends, all of them have actions that would normally offend anyone, but they do not offend me. No, they are doing the best that they can and things do happen.

And I do understand. I have been given the ability to see past the current situation all the way to their heart. And that feels good.

I imagine that many others feel this way too! And because it’s not normal, it must be a form of what is called “handicapped” or “disabled”. So, I guess that I’m not in such a weird place after all because I have lots of company.

I just received an extremely negative telephone call. I won’t go into details, but effectively the man said You’re on your own, we can’t help you.

That hurt. I didn’t expect for that to happen and the more I thought about it the more I probably felt just like the Apostles felt on the boat when Jesus was asleep and that storm threatened to sink the boat, take their lives and they went to wake up Jesus and He was able to calm the storm, the winds and the sea and they were shocked!

So why when a human tells me that I am on my own does it shock me? Weren’t the Apostles on their own too? No they had God with them. And they were on Earth. So what’s different for me? Nothing because Jesus is with me just like He was with them too.

So what do I have to be concerned about? Just like the Apostles, nothing.

A very interesting thing happened to me today. Very interesting indeed.

On Sunday my roommate went out and so I was totally alone. I went into the bathroom in my wheelchair and stood up using my floor to ceiling pole. Sounds fine, duh! Not so quick… I fell down onto the toilet totally hard because I lost my balance.

I was shocked to see that the toilet had not broken because I FELL HARD! Well, everything seemed to be fine though, so I just was pleased and so I said a prayer of thankfulness.

But today being Wednesday and 3 days after the fall, I got up fine, planned a busy day, wheeled out to eat breakfast, ate it and then talked to my wife. And after I had hung up…my back started HURTING!

So badly that at one point I wondered WHAT had gone wrong! So I called the Doctor and made an appointment for Friday. But I just continued to get worse and so I went to bed.

And after only a short time I called a friend to take me to the hospital. At the urgent care center I just closed my eyes because the pain was so intense.

Then after they finally called me in, my friend had to leave for awhile and they came and got me and took me for some x-rays. After the x-rays, the doctor came in and said You clearly have a broken rib! It’ll take about 4 months to heal, there’s no treatment but there is some medication!

So…I did fall very hard and I’m blessed that I didn’t feel anything until today!

Heaven in the real world…

I’m a very happy person. I am. The Lord is my shepherd and I do not want. If you consider Earthly standards, I have literally nothing. But if you consider Spiritual or God’s standards, I have everything. So, I quite often feel that I view Heaven in the real world. And when I say real world I don’t mean that the real world is someplace different, no it’s the World in which we live every day.

He’s always here whether you’re His child or not. He doesn’t just appear when the time is right, no He’s smarter than that and He has a plan that He’s keeping.

Do I know the plan? No, I actually don’t, but who cares?

Even though some may think that they have the upper hand, they don’t but God does.

He works in our lives. Quietly I’ll admit, but He does work nonetheless. Every moment of every day there is proof, even if we don’t see it or realize it, it’s there because He is there.

That is one of the things that I have and never question. I never do.

I just wish everyone could feel what I feel and see what I see. It’s awesome and He’s awesome.

So I call it Heaven in the real world because it is. In Heaven we’ll be with Him, but we are with Him now. I’ll admit that I don’t know what Heaven will be like, but I have God now, so I do see Heaven in the real world.

Be Careful…

Matt 7:1

7:1 "Do not judge , or you too will be judged.
NIV



Don’t judge other people or others things. A more “today” way of saying ‘judge’ is ‘evaluate’. In our culture today evaluating things is the way many humans feel that is a normal human thing to do.

Well, is it? Here’s one for you:

When you judge, what does that do? Decides if something was right or wrong; or good or bad, etc.

Ok.

When you evaluate, what does that do? Decides if something was right or wrong; or good or bad.

Wait just a moment. Don’t those two sound just alike?

Yes they do, so possibly being a normal human thing to do is not the real Christian thing to do…according to Jesus it’s not, but you have to go with what you feel.

Because Jesus is your judge.

Ps 46:10
10 "Be still, and know that I am God
NIV

I went to a Christian counselor today, the same one who helped me so much before, and in one session I told him about my lawsuit problems which are astronomical (to say the least), and he gave me a key that I already had but was not (for some stupid reason) using he just looked at me and said: well, you may just have to be still and know that He is God. He has said before that people shouldn’t do things like this, so whether or not you win on Earth in court—you’ll win.

What a huge weight that lifted off of me! And, of course I thought Why didn’t I realized that before? But of course I didn’t know for sure, but I can only guess that I had let my Earthly problems take center stage over my Heavenly knowledge.

Do you ever do that too? If you do it’s a useless waste of time, because Heavenly things will always win over Earthly things in the end.

So the Bible is correct! And that’s what we should be banking and depending on.

Sinners

I would like it very much if I could say to you that this is not my personal opinion, but that just is not true.

There also may be some people that will see just a little too much of themselves in this and they’ll become a little uncomfortable and not like it. And if the happens then just delete it.

But the reason that I’m bringing this up is that I am faced with this problem on many fronts, both natural relational and friendships.







Rom 5:6-8

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
NIV

We’re only human, NOT GODLY. Christ dying for us did not change who we are, but it did make it available to us that we could finally be accepted by God, fully.






God gave us grace. Eph 2:9-10 states that it was a gift from God and not something that we could earn ourselves so that no one could brag about what they were or were not doing. It was a gift that you did not earn. Period End. It wasn’t yours, it was a gift. God’s gift to you.

In Kentucky this was very evident to me. My family and I volunteered at a group home for boys who had trouble with the law. So it was kind of a step that because of their age before jail or prison.

Now all of us went twice a week to see them. Our Church, unfortunately, did not agree with what we were doing, were unsupportive and would not allow us to bring them to Church because there was concern that others would be afraid.


That exact problem is still a problem among Christians today. As long as you “act” like a Christian per the agreed upon societal definition then you’re ok, but IF you screw up and don’t meet their definition, then you’re a sinner by their definition and you’re not worthy of their company and they won’t talk to you or even be around you at all.

Maybe I’m wrong, but Jesus wasn’t like that. I’ll refer you back to the beginning scripture. Christ did not wait until we were good enough to come, no He came anyway. And because God is omni everything, He already knew that we would sin (we were sinners already!) but He came to help us and to help the Father.

And He lives in us, so why can’t we do it?



Were I and my family wrong in Kentucky? NO! That may have been the first glimpse of Jesus for some of those boys and for some maybe the last.

But I don’t understand what you’re saying. As Christians, doesn’t Jesus live in each of us?

Yes He does and it is our primary responsibility to make sure that others see Him, not us or our personal interpretation of “religion”. Who do we live for? Jesus. Not human founders of human Churches—just Jesus.

So what I’m saying is that first Jesus is without a doubt spiritual and we are without a doubt physical. And there are differences that no one knows better than Jesus Himself.


And secondly that we have been forgiven but not changed. So we have all sinned before and because we’re human we still do. But the forgiveness that we now have is once and for all.

So when we do sin, it’s been forgiven once and for all. In other words Jesus came, lived and died once. He overcame death once and He ascended back into Heaven once. Because He came to become a physical being once

So when a fellow Christian sins then don’t look at it as their personal or spiritual failure, no, just recognize who Jesus has made them to be in Him but that they are only human still, so things may still happen here. Because they have been forgiven once, they WILL go to Heaven so love them because Jesus died for them. So He knew it long ago and that’s why He came and died. They were worth it to Him, so they should be worth it to you too.

The boys at the group home in Kentucky were to us then and people still are to us now, but are they to you?

Personal Opinions

Opinion
A belief stronger than impression and less strong then positive knowledge.

So a personal opinion is the same thing but it is related a specific person and their feelings or thoughts or beliefs. It is not the correct or only thought, now it may be, but it is in fact just the opinion of the person expressing it.

And EVERYONE has an opinion! So some will agree or disagree with an opinion that is given because it does or does not agree with their own opinion.

And sometimes people forget that something is just their opinion. And they become offended if you do not agree with them.

But if that happens then you can try and explain how you feel and why you feel the way you do. You’re kidding! Does that take care of it?

Maybe yes and maybe no. It really just depends on whether or not the other person agreed with your opinion on how you felt. They may and they may not.

So there are many ideas and opinions going around and you have got to always remember that you’re just another one if the many. And, for whatever reason not everyone is always going to agree with you because the way you feel is just your personal opinion.

I am always thinking. Not smart or anything like that, I just think. How can I help someone or a process? Yes, I have a TBI, but I’m not stupid or useless. No.



How do I know that? Well, think about this: I should be dead or at best a vegetable. No surgeries or correction by the medical or therapeutic fields, but I am competent to live on my own so I have no Conservator or Board & Care, no I live in an apartment! I pay my own bills & make my own food. I maintain several things and even clean things up if need be.



But why?



Because Jesus created my brain stem in the first place and when it was broken, He healed it and I live because of Him and exclusively for Him.



Is everything just fine? No, it’s not. But I live in this World and things just happen simply because people make choices. Good choices that help others or bad choices that hurt others, but they make them over and over and over. Isn’t anyone watching? Yes! God is.



So He knows? Yes! So I don’t have to watch? No! Am I responsible for choices that others make? No! The one who makes the choices is responsible. So it’s not up to me? No!



Wow! So why am I here? I seem to have nothing to do…



Ok, because of God life does go on and on, but there are those who need Jesus love and because He lives in you, you can teach and love others. That’s your job and that’s why you’re here. That’s why we’re here!

God is in control

It doesn’t matter what happens to you or what people choose to do or how you are affected, God is in control.

For the longest time, I could not understand why the Old Testament was there but now I think that I do. It is truly an excellent set of examples of God’s incredible love.

No matter what people chose to do, God was always in control. He knew what people were doing, good or bad, but He always let them choose to do it. Always.

Now there were sometimes when He took action like the Israelites crossing the sea and Babylonian captivity (just to name a few), and He still could today. In fact He did, He sent Jesus to us and for us.

But now Jesus is in charge
and we have been given Grace and forgiveness and Salvation and a future and this World that we live in.

But the fact that He is still in control has not changed. No, He could still choose to do anything. That may seem obvious to you, but please read on.

In my everyday life I am always confronted with situations that are not pleasant or actions that are not positive. So I always have a decision to make. I can get angry or frustrated and I could choose to do something and sometimes I do. But regardless of anything, I have got to remember that regardless of the situation with which I am faced or the possible results, God is in control.

It sounds easy and simple, but it’s not! You have to give up complete control of your life and what happens or whatever people situations may arise over to Him. Because you may think that you have some control over certain things, but you don’t.

You are not the judge now and you won’t be in the future. You can’t see everything, but God can. So leave it all, and I mean all, up to the one in charge and in control.

You are a human like me and this is not in any way easy to do, but you will be free from things that you were not in control of anyway.

I was just looking at my poster of Rembrandt’s The Prodigal Son Returns and I realized what that story and the poster are saying!

For a long time I saw it all as a situation where the son realized after a huge situation presented itself (reality finally came into focus for him) that his choices had been improper.

So, appropriately he sought his father’s forgiveness. Now, remember what his father did when he originally asked for his inheritance—he gave it to him. So was it ok for him to ask for his inheritance? No, but His father I’m sure knew that it could have bad results for his son, but he gave it to him. He seemed to feel that it was his gift to give as he pleased.

Now, what about his brother not accepting him at all? Situation after situation came up but he still would not accept him, and that hurt his brother a lot.

So what does that all mean? Well, at one time I believed that it meant that through the proper sequential actions on my part that the father would forgive me, but now I see it differently and this view agrees with the scriptures.

God, our Father, is extremely patient. Extremely. Plus He knows everything about us. Who we have been, who we are and who we will become and He still gave us grace. Forgiveness was His and His alone. So no matter what He knew, He still sent us Jesus:
Rom 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
NIV
And no matter what we have done, no matter what, He still loves us:
Eph 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
NIV

So what if our brother doesn’t accept us? There certainly is no example in the Bible that that won’t hurt us, but the bottom line for the prodigal son was that the father accepted him, and our Father does to!

So, now that I have a different understanding, what does that parable mean to me? Well to me it means that we could go from where we are to worse and fail (again) but we’ll always be failures because we are human. So the only hope we have is in our Father, not what others think but what He thinks.

I have run into the fact that many people who say and think that they are Christians do not understand or believe the following:

John 16:33-17:1
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble . But take heart! I have overcome the world."
NIV

Rom 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV

People are so caught up in whether or not Jesus really has control over this World that they ultimately believe that how they actually behave or their actions as a whole will determine where they will spend eternity, and this next verse takes care of that thought:

Eph 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
NIV

Not by works, so that no man can boast. What that means is that there is nothing that you can do to earn it or lose it cuz it is a gift from God.

So actions have absolutely nothing to with it, it is a gift from God.

You know what? There’s so much that I do recognize and am thankful for but there is so much more that I think that I don’t realize and don’t understand and I’m ok with that because if I ever do, it will be given to me. And if not, that’ll be ok.



I’m actually beginning to see Jesus work in other people! Unfortunately not in just everyone, but that’s ok.



I’m just feeling extremely thankful for who I am and where I am. Thankful for God.



Yes, before I was helping people with the things of this world, but that prepared me very well for where I am now. Perfect preparation.



Now I am very aware of the Godhead. They are there, we just have to see them & know them. I do truly see them but I think that it’s not the time for me to say that I know them completely, they always amaze me, maybe in Heaven I’ll know and understand them.



For now, it is my responsibility to help others to see them and know that they are there. But regardless of whether others see them or not, they're there.

Certainly this is my perspective, but created by God at one time I had so much genius knowledge in this life that I was highly successful. Now remembering who created me, when I didn’t react properly to what I had been given, God chose to take me from a place to where I was The Most Of These to a place where I am The Least Of These where I can still work for Him. That is a huge blessing.

Everything that was at my disposal now is not, but God’s still in control. And my faith is actually stronger than it has ever been!

His Strength Is Perfect


The chorus to one of my very favorite songs is:
His strength is perfect
When our strength is gone
He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on
Raised in His power, the weak become strong
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect

The reason that is one of my very favorite songs is because that is very clearly the only reason that I am alive.

I was being sinful, but I had met the Lord before that and the Lord had said I’ll never leave you and clearly He didn’t, even though I was being sinful. But do you know what? We are all human so we’ll always be sinful! No change in behavior was going to do that. That’s what the law was for and it failed!

Now that brings the power of His sacrifice into a whole different place! Yes, he bore our sins on the cross, but we had not yet been born and yes He knew the future then, but He also knew that we were human thus we were sinful and Him going to the crucified was the ONLY WAY THAT WE WOULD BE ABLE TO BE IN HEAVEN!

And so He did it and as the Bible says He did it once for all. And that was more than good enough. With my sinful condition I prove that.

So what’s my point? Go ahead and sin? No! My point is just to better clarify what He did for us so that we can appreciate Him all the more.

What I Am Here For

I think that I know and can tell everyone my purpose in life. I am here to be Jesus to people. Now, how will I do that? Great question! First I must focus on Who created everything? God. So who is really in control of what goes on here on Earth? God. And it is possible to get more familiar with God because God is Jesus! And, He actually lived here on this Earth. Just like you do.

And, He experienced everything that you do as you do, too and He dealt with things well. Why? Most likely He knew where He came from and He knew that He was going to go back there, too. Well, that’s nice, but how does it helo me or others?

Good question again! You and I are going to either going to spend eternity with Him in Heaven or without Him in Hell. Each person has their own choice here on this Earth. And our job is to love all of God’s creations and help them to understand the two choices and hopefully they will choose the right one!

That’s what Jesus was here for! And of course we are called to do the same. In one parable Jesus actually said Do Likewise, so that’s what I’m doing, and I know that’s what I’m here for.

I feel so weird today. Really weird. I am coming back and it seems like it’s happening so quickly too!



I can think & understand things and I realize each time that it happens that it is something that I didn’t used to understand and I understand it now!





WOW! This is a very different place for me to be in my recovery. I’m sure that some other people have experienced this too! I would have liked to have been prepared for this.



Man, I want to take on some responsibility at a job, so I would like to do some volunteering! If you have any ideas, send them to me. I have imagined (more than once) that I must have really loved my old job.

x


all nations
x
Matt 28:19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
NIV

Mark 13:7
7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
NIV


Mark 13:9-10
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations .
NIV



the least of
Matt 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these , you did not do for me.'

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
NIV







This morning is good like any other morning. I got out of my bed and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, thinking about the Lord and what I might do today and this came to my mind:

On Jesus’ last day here on this Earth He told His disciples the following:

Matt 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations , and then the end will come.
NIV

Matt 28:18-19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
NIV

Mark 13:10
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations .
NIV

Repeatedly you find the words all nations…hum…what does that mean? All nations who worship at my Church? No. well it MUST mean those who do proper things. No. OK, it must be those who are members of my (or this or that) religion. No. Then it has to refer to those in other countries. No.

All nations simply refers to everyone. And everyone is everyone. Handicapped and not. Other countries or not. Whether they go to my Church or not. Whether they do proper things or not (especially if not) they still need salvation. If they are in your Church or religion, Church or other countries it doesn’t matter they still need Jesus.

So what if it seems they are uncommon? It does not matter to Jesus.

Please the following words from Jesus own mouth:
Matt 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these , you did not do for me.'

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
NIV

So, I think we have a lot to do, even right where we are because I want to be with the sheep on the right!

I've been listening to some very good music. My wife has been copying some of our CDs so that we can both listen to them and this one song by Steven Curtis Chapman keeps coming to my mind "I'm gunna love you with my life" and although I can remember hearing it and really liking it in the past, being who I am now and having gone through so much as I have now, that song has a totally new meaning! It is now extremely important to me. So important that it is my song now between me and Jesus. I do want to love Him with my life! It's one thing to say it and a totally different thing to do it.

At the beginning of the song it says:

There is a pressing question
My heart's been asking me
When I say I love you Lord
What does it mean?
It's one thing to say it
And another thing to do
How can I show you it's true?
I'm gonna love you with my life

The mere words say it all!
I'm gonna love you with my life

Not with my words or behavior, none of those alone (as many religions say) but with my life. Think about that for a moment. If God is omni everything and scripture clearly states that He is, then He really does know if you act one way at Church and another when you're elsewhere.

Ok then what does love you with my life mean then? Great question! We are to be like Christ, hence the name Christian. So what was Christ like? You asked another great question! People would probably say many things but patient, forgiving, always willing to go the extra mile…,you could go on and on, but the ones we named are often the hardest ones for us, as humans, to gain.

So what's different for us verses Jesus. I could be wrong, but He NEVER EVER QUETIOND HIS HOME. NEVER. But we do. We have been told many times in scripture that it is evolving, who is building it, but we want the details! Who? What? When? Why? Where? We think that we have to know! Why? Because we're humans? I don't think so, because as I have read that we're living eternally and as humans we can't do that, but human nature just drives us on and on so all we can do is trust God and go where ever He leads us.

That's what I do. I never would have thought that what has happened would have happened and that I would be alive today, but it did happen and I am alive. Why? Because He controls life and death and there's, obviously, still work to be done for Him by me.

Do I know what work I'm here for? Nope but I'm going to love him with my life! When people speak of me, I hope that they will think of Jesus!

When I was going to bed last night (yes, I'm always thinking) the main reason that I had written to you finally came to me! It's as simple as the words I'm gonna love you with my life. That's what Jesus did. At the cost of His own life He loved us, and now as Christians we're able to do the same thing: Are you willing not to be caught up in the "you display" to be caught up in the "Jesus Display"? I AM!

I am with you always

A woman in my Sunday school class gave me a poster that was all about Matthew 28:18-20 and this part of the verse was highlighted. I have always thought That’s nice but it wasn’t until recently that I saw the realism and importance of those words of Jesus.

He is OMNI everything and that alone is difficult for me as a human to understand. I simply cannot! And to realize that He would be with just me was impossible.

But He has shown me time and time again that He is with me. To the point that I just have to believe it. No, it doesn’t make sense to me and no I don’t understand it, but it’s true and it does happen.

So, when things come up or things just don’t make sense it helps me to know that He knows it too. And even if I think that I might die, I stop and realize like the Apostle Paul said: to die is gain, so really there is no worry for me when I realize this!