God Is Love

I've been thinking about this phrase for a few days now.

God Is Love.

...but do we really, truly, honestly believe it?

Think about it.

Not God WAS Love or WILL BE Love, but IS LOVE.

Sometimes, when I hear messages from others, I wonder...Some things they say about God (i.e. how God is, deals with us, thinks of us, etc.) don't sound so...loving.

I think we aren't fully able to accept what love really is - there's too much out there that distracts us, that takes our eyes away from what love really is.

And of course there's the enemy out there trying his (literally) damnedest to make sure we don't fully understand it.

I'm even trying to wrap my head around it and so far I've come up with this: I'm waaaaaaaaaay off. Not even close to TRUE LOVE - in a sense I "fall short" I "miss the mark."

Don't we all.

But I'm not just talking about action, but the thoughts. How I THINK love is, or should be.

Like Jesus said, if I can think of something loving how much MORE does God? Unfortunately, I think we don't give God nearly enough credit for Love.

Friendship With God - some notes.

I am almost half-way through Friendship With God and a few things have caught my eye. I ran across the following quotes from "God" in the book. "God's" words are in red.

(I put "God" in quotes for the moment, because I am not yet addressing the validity of Walsch's conversations. We'll get to that later.)

Regarding God's will vs. ours:
“…I have no agenda for you, other than the agenda you set for yourself.”

God setting stuff in place for us to achieve our goals, or to direct us toward those goals:
“Yes, I will place the tools in your hands…You may choose to use those tool, or not to use them.”

Regarding is God's inspiration still "ours" and using tools:
“..I cannot tell you how many people to whom I have given wonderful words to write, who have never written them…songs to sing, who have never sung them…If {using your gifts that have been given} isn’t something to be thrilled about, I don’t know what is.”

In regards to folks who believe/feel “no-credit-is-to-come-to-me” or “I-am-not-to-feel-good-about-myself”:
“The trick is not to do what you do FOR acknowledgment but rather as an expression of Who You Are.”

As for if it's okay to declare ourselves and our gifts:
“Jesus announced himself and declared himself unequivocally to all who could hear.”

...and:
“In this (creating the best YOU you can envision) will I be glorified, for the glory of God is the glory of you, expressed wondrously indeed.”

Certainly something to think about. I can't say that I disagree. Deep down, I do believe God wants nothing but for us to express ourselves and to be ourselves and to help others do the same - yes, all the while still helping and loving others.

But, as I think I stated before in another post, we can't truly love others until we start to love ourselves.

Do you think Jesus thought ill of himself? Jesus could freely and openly love others without reservations, hesitation, or limitation because he fully loved himself (and God) as well.

DO NOT confuse this with ego. Or one thinking they are better than others.

I did come across some other stuff, which I believe Walsch got some flack about. I will get to those in another post.

All thoughts are welcome...

Accepting Jesus is NOT Biblical!!

Got your attention? Ha!

Seriously though, I have come to loath the word "biblical" especially when someone is trying to prove a point regarding doctrine or how one should live their life...

Is it biblical to_____(fill in the blank.)

"Biblical" is used to say: it's in the Bible. or The Bible teaches.

This is such a slippery slope, because by using some cutting and pasting one can make the Bible say pretty much anything...thus, making it Biblical.

That being said. Is Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior Biblical?

Well, nowhere in the Bible does it say that.

Not once can you find the phrase: accept(ing) Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Or Accept Jesus into your heart.

You can't find "accept" and "Jesus" right next to each other.

Though, that is what we are told is how to be saved.

Do the search...if you can find it, let me know. I did a search: I couldn't.

The Bible says nothing about accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.

What does that mean?

Not much. It's nothing radical. People have known since the Bible was written that it isn't in the Bible.

My issue is not with the "Accepting" part....it's with the overuse of Biblical to argue a side, to point out a wrong, to do something other that LOVE someone or show them LOVE.

and, by the way, love IS Biblical.

(in fact, it's mentioned all over the Bible)

Pontius' Puddle

I had gotten a question as to the cartoon at the bottom of the blog.

(If you haven't seen it, it's WAAAAAY down at the bottom)

Well, the cartoon is called Pontius' Puddle. Check it out here: pontius

"Friendship with God"

If you are not familiar with this book, it is one of Neale Donald Walsch's book - he's better known for the "Conversations with God" series.

(it's a book where he has a conversation with God, basically...there's a movie too)

Out of curiosity, I picked up "FWG" at 1/2 Price books.

Why not?

If at the very least it should be an interesting read. I'll let you know.

Any thoughts are welcome...

What's your donkey?

First off - apologies to Max Lucado. I really haven't given him much credit. Of the few books I had read of him, they weren't "deep" thinkers, and because of that I wrote them off. It came to pass, that a couple weeks ago I happened upon a vast collection of his books at the thrift store and they were...well, VERY cheap. So I snagged them up.

I'm glad I did, they have been good reads.

So, as for the donkey.

I'm reading: And The Angels Were Silent.

In one of his chapters he talked about the man with the donkey (the one that Jesus "borrowed" to ride in on). Max went on to ask: what's your donkey? What do YOU have that the Lord could use/needs/wants...

I like that - What's Your Donkey?

It can be anything, any talent, any dream, and object, any action...and I believe that we actually have MANY MANY donkeys in our stable, at our disposal.

Might not be a bad idea if we listed our donkeys...I'm guessing we'll discover that we have a lot more to offer than we give ourselves credit for.

Red Meat a Sin?

Sad but true...no, not that red meat is a sin, wait...let me back up.

The other day I was listening to my "favorite" radio program. Yes, I am being sarcastic. (aside: I think God draws me to the program to help me work on my acceptance of other peoples way of "preaching" and "ministering" to certain people)

Back to the "meat" of the subject - bad pun.

So, while listening to the program, a caller asks if eating meat that is cooked rare (or any other way but well-done) meat is a sin.

It saddened me. Honestly, I felt for the caller. I wondered, what teacher, pastor, friend, leader, you name it, must she have that she would worry about such a thing?

The cynical part of me begins to bubble inside, and sometimes I want to...I don't know what. I get angry, though. I really do.

No doubt, the devil has his hand in some of these things.

A diluted Gospel.

Scaring people about whether or not things are "sinful" or whether or not they are really, truly saved, making them fear that maybe, just maybe they might be "backsliding."

How would they know?

Scolding people because they don't feel that they are getting anything out of church. Hey, maybe the church IS to blame. Maybe the church has it's prior ties wrong. Maybe we do. Maybe it's both.

Most likely it's both.

Worshipping God...I don't think anybody did it better than Jesus...and how did he do it?

I know, we want a comfortable, safe God...I want that too...but that's NOT how God is.

We must get our hands dirty, we must become vulnerable, we must become open, we must LOVE.

Oh, it'll hurt.
We'll be made fun of.
People might take advantage of us.
People will_____hey, put anything you'd like, they'll do it.

But you want to praise God? You want to feel him? You want to get close to God?

He's in the trenches. He's in the muck. He's that homeless guy on the corner. He's that lady you think is fat, ugly, and a terrible parent. He's the person you gossip about. He's the family down the street that you wish would move. He's the guy that hopes today he will get a smile, rather than nasty looks. He's the person who would just like one person to give them a hug rather than accusations. He's the person breaking into a car, to get whatever he can to sell so he can buy drugs/sex/whatever. The person that cut you off in traffic? Guess who that is. That lady with all the coupons in the check out line?

Or as we sometimes like to call them: THOSE people.

It isn't US vs. THEM.

It's just US. All of us. We are in this together. We are all going to fail, do something wrong, cheat, lie, steal, get angry, and on and on.

I'm no better than you, you're no better than me.

God gave you talents and dreams and means...use them. Can you help someone today?

Do it.

Can you help them tomorrow? Or someone else?

Believe me, I am not the best at this either...in fact, I'm still resisting God in many many ways...and while I have my reasons (God knows them, we've talked about it), I also know that my frustrations that I am feeling and anger will only grow...and to be honest - I am scared to take that step of faith, because it sure feels like a leap across a canyon.

(This post is as much if not more FOR and AT me than it is by me)

James 2

I've been mulling over and praying about this passage...it is an interesting one as it spurs much debate.

Because where Paul in his letter talks about justification through faith alone, James seems to be speaking about faith AND works.

Example being the well known verse: "v26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

AND

v22 "Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?"

Some say James is writing TO the Jews, who being set apart, were still under law in part if not in full.

Others say this is still the same message, just spoken to the Jew so they understand it better - as they WERE under the law.

One thing for sure...it was not written TO the gentile, which begs another quetion: if isn't TO the gentile, is it still FOR the gentile?

First Cup

The most glorious promises of God are generally fulfilled in such a wondrous manner that He steps forth to save us at a time when there is the least appearance of it. -- C. H. Von Bogatzky

In Prayer...

Haven't posted much in the past week, sorry about that.

Just been in prayer and thought about some things regarding this ministry (such as it is) and other related issues.

I have an idea of what God is wanting from me, but still, there is uncertainty.

If anyone ever had told me I would even be HAVING this issue I would have said they were crazy, drunk, or both!

But there it is.

I'll keep ya posted if and when I figure it out!

Haiti...what you can do.

Since I'm sure that many of us cannot just drop everything and go help, there are people who can and are.

And where our time and effort cannot be given, certainly our funds can and should. Please check out Feed My Starving Children and give what you can, if you can...

God Bless.

"(Always) New" and "(Always) Improving!"

Recently I had been feeling "out of sorts." Frustrated and "itchy" is the best way I can describe it. Things that once appealed to me, no longer do, things I wasn't bothered by I started to be...it's an odd feeling, and "frustrating" at times. There were also things that I wish I could change and haven't yet.

To get better, to be better.

Needing a "warm fuzzy" God opened my eyes to this verse in a scripture journal I have:

Philippians 1:6

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ"

So, yes, those feelings I have been "feeling" are part of this "good work" that is being done in me and I see that and accept that. And I had to laugh at it as well.

The verse did say to me: yes, those feelings are normal and are part of the process.
But it also said this: this process will not end, until the end!

Ah! Great! I get to look forward to more of these changes! These "frustrated" feelings! Wooo!

Okay, I'm being a little sarcastic in my joy of looking forward to "frustration." It is nice to know that these "frustrations" are proof of the "good work" that is being done in me by Jesus. It is also nice to know that Jesus will keep on working on me...I don't have to worry about being perfect, or changing overnight, or make a list of what's "wrong" with me...Jesus is working on ALL of that - and he won't quit!

Philippians 4:8

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

We do that and Jesus will take care of the rest...when we get out of the way, he does his best work.

Yet again...(say it with me) GO WITH THE FLOW.

Nothing complicated...

A struggle even for me is to NOT make faith so complicated. It shouldn't be; isn't meant to be.

We each may do things that help us grow in our faith, but we should be watchful that they don't become the "rule."

When I started writing, I wrote for fun, and I wrote often. Then I did something stupid: I bought books on writing.

My writing died, for quite some time.

So many books told me HOW to write, but they differed from each other (because each of us write in our own way). So after reading these HOW TO books, I began to question my writing, to think it of it in terms of the newest book I was reading.

Some skills need a HOW TO. Pottery, knitting, carpentry, cooking, etc...

But the writing books were not about HOW to actually write a sentence, but crafting a story...there's something you can't teach, not really.

Crafting is an experience.

Don't kill your faith with complicated ideas and notions and rules and rituals. You will stumble, you will doubt, you will get mad at God, you will be sad...faith is an experience...might as well enjoy it.

Go With The Flow...

Again, I've been picking through the Julia Cameron Book "Vein of Gold."

I'm in the chapter "Boredom."

(quickly, this book is about tapping into the creative vein of gold through various "kingdoms")

I am discovering that much of what she says about creativity could be said for faith as well.

Such as:

"A little boredom is good for (faith)."

She goes on to say that boredom is the symptom "excessive ego is the underlying malady. When we are bored, we are usually sulking."

You ever sulk in your faith? I have!

I think I sulk at some point every day, if I am being honest.

Julia then writes about a W.A. Mathieu. A musician.

Mathieu was getting disappointed in his music and performances (though I doubt many noticed this internal struggle). Mathieu says, "I realized that my music had gotten stuck because I was trying to prove something. Too much ego in it. I hadn't stepped out of the way."

THAT smacked me right up the head!

Take music out and put in faith. "I realized that my (faith) had gotten stuck because I was trying to prove something. Too much ego in it. I hadn't stepped out of the way."

In "life" there is a pecking order, all around us, at work, in circle of friends, you name it...faith is not exempt.

Most of it is self imposed...I SHOULD be like this, I SHOULD be doing that, I want to be special!

But being special is NOT the same as being VALUED.

God values you, just how you are. Got things you want to change? Sure, he'll help you with it, but you have to "get out of the way."

Again, go with the flow.

A List you might like...

'Tis the season of resolutions!

Even if you haven't made a resolution list you might like to make an "Accomplishments" list.

The Better Half thought of this on New Years eve as we thought about what we would like to do, or change for 2010. She thought that instead of focusing on what we though we should change, we should focus on (and be thankful and grateful) for what we had accomplished/changed during the past year.

Of course we had our big one: quit smoking.

and the list went on from there. By the time we were done we had about 15 accomplishments each...big and small, but all valuable nonetheless.

As they say, success breeds success, so we figured by seeing our 2009 successes that it would help out with our 2010 ones!

Us Vs. God

I missed a message today that was going to discuss "our plans" vs. "God's Plan."

It would have been nice to hear, maybe I'll catch it again some other time.

But it did get me to thinking: why do we jump to the conclusion that Our Plan and God's Plan are not one in the same?

They might not be, but I think that we, if we are listening to our hearts, our souls, and God, our plans will be at least in the same direction as God's. God might have us tweak it a little. Or we might be viewing our plan from the wrong perspective.

The trick, I think, isn't so much to give up ours and wait on God to tell us what His plan is, but to be open, mindful, aware, and as my Grandfather would say, "Go with the flow."

Go with the flow of God.

Rise and Shine! (and finally...)

It’s quite sad what we’ve done with God.

Recently he’s gone from a dictator or sorts (all about rules and being “good”) to a vending machine.

Pray – select.
Give – select.
Do this – get that.

G2 please!

Yay, Skittles!

The pendulum seems to swing back and forth, depending on the day, church, book you pick up.

And, well, each is a bit right. But not always for the fight reasons.

God doesn’t want you to worry about the rules…just walk with Him. You’ll find that the more you walk with him. Start down that path.

It’s not too late!

It’s about the journey and discovery…not the destination, not the end “product.”

Rediscover your dream…in any way you can, no matter how small. Want to paint? Get a cheap set and start. Want to write? Get a pen and paper. Want to build? Start drawing designs. You call it, it’s yours!

Like Nike said: Just do it!

That’s what God’s saying to you: Just do it.

Rise and Shine (Part II)

What is your dream? Do you remember?

Perhaps to dance, paint, sing, play music, write a book, write poetry, build a car, build a house, open a store, open a restaurant, open a shelter, open a church…

If you have pursued that dream, GREAT! Keep going!

If not…why not?

Why do we have dreams and aspirations, if not to chase them?

Somewhere along the line we bought into the notion that we had to dash those dreams, tuck them away only to look at them and say, “There was a time I wanted to…”

We’ve been told time and time again that these dreams are childish, silly, or not “rational.” Buckle down, put your nose to the grindstone and get to work!

How would we think God was any different? “Put aside your dreams, pick up your Bible and get to submitting to my will.”

Here’s a little test.

God = Fun
Jesus = Fun
Church = Fun

Do you chuckle like I did when I first looked at it? Did a little voice in your head say, “If only.” Especially that last one.

Why is that? Why wouldn’t God be fun?
Why wouldn’t Jesus be fun?
Why aren’t “Christians” looked at as being fun?

(I put Christians within quotes, because I dislike labels. Using the word Christian at times gets used in an “us vs. them” context. I wish not to do that here. We are ALL in this together…every single one of us)

Why are so many people flocking to other religions? Why did so many people get sucked into the fallacy of “The Secret?” For one reason, I think, like us we are all searching for meaning and truth. But furthermore, other religions, or theologies, or “practices” seem to allow for one to chase their dream. Somehow, someway, Christianity has come about as a religion that crushes dreams, beats them down into submission, until you become a nice, pious, Christian.

So why don’t we follow our dreams? Or a better question is why don’t we believe that God would want us to?
Maybe part of it is that we think it to be “worldly.” We are, after all, warned time and time again NOT to be worldly.

“I better not write that book. I might become famous and rich…and I shouldn’t want that, or accept that as an outcome.”

That is ridiculous.

Making money is not a sin. Being famous is not a sin. Having influence is not a sin. Yes, these can be USED in sinful (selfish) ways, but in-and-of themselves they are not sins.

If you really ask yourself about your dream is it more about CREATING something (yes a restaurant is creating something) or making gobs and gobs of money that you can burn it for fuel and rub it in everyone’s face?

I’m guessing it’s the former.

If that’s the case…what are you waiting for?

Rise and Shine! (part one)

I don't usually like series messages, but in this case it'll be nice, as it would be one long post that would be boring and hard to read!


How much we learn at Sunday School that as we get older we toss to the side, or throw it in a box.


There's a children's song called: Rise and Shine, and Give God Your Glory.


The first line of this song is: Rise and Shine, and Give God your glory, glory.

If that wasn't enough, that also is the second line of the song. And if that wasn't still enough, that's the 3rd line of the song!


Three times we have children singing that they need to 1) Rise and Shine! and 2) Give God their Glory, Glory!


When's the last time you Rose and Shone? I don't think I did today, if I am honest. I think I got up, and shuffled to the coffee maker first.


As for giving God my Glory? What's that?


Aren't we supposed to give him our "obedience" and "submit" to him?


Perhaps our problem is we don't know what our glory is. Do you? Or are you confused at the lyrics too? Give God MY glory? I thought I'm supposed to give HIM glory...


Ah, but there it is: we give God Glory, by shining and giving him OUR GLORY.


What is our glory?


It's your desires (the healthy ones), it's your gifts (your talents), it's your heart...


How do you give those to God? By using them, by following them, by opening them. We all have gifts from God.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

These gifts come in a variety of ways through our talents and interests. Yes, those dreams we have for ourselves are from God. We are to pursue those dreams. To do so, gives God our glory.


Now, that isn't to say by going after our dreams we are going to reap rewards, riches, and fame...we very well might not.

But somewhere down the line we, as Christians, have decided that going after our dreams is somehow wrong...That our dreams, wishes, hopes couldn't possibly be anything God would want me to strive for...No God has a plan that I must "submit" to.

Who do you think gave you those dreams?

The secular world has no problems going after their dreams (look at Hollywood) why should we? Because we are Christians? Christians can't have dreams, want to succeed, have a goal?

Being "humble" or "mild" or whatever is NOT the same as putting aside your dream. Being humble means you do not think yourself better than anyone. Being humble means if you are able, put others first. It does NOT mean that we toss aside our ambitions, our desires, our dreams, to be pious, Bible reading, church going, "nice" religious robots.

Submitting, doesn't mean that we shove our dreams away and wait for what God "really" wants us to do...

That is NOT abundant life. That is NOT the plan God has for us.

That dream IS God's plan, or at least a large part of it.

Now, please, do not think that I am saying if we all follow our dreams we will all be rich and famous. Most of us won't. But that's not the point. The point is, our dream, our aspirations are an invitation from God...in a word: a path.

Our path.

Our own, special path designed just for us...my path is not the same as yours, your path is not the same as mine. Some similarities might exist, but to compare the two paths is futile and worthless.

It is to follow God down this path is truly submitting.

I do believe that if we all followed our dreams "submit" to walking with God along our path, we will experience a life we have never known.

A life that we would deem worth living...a life that not only gives God our glory, but gives Him glory as well.

Faith and Risk

I was reading a book on creativity (Julia Cameron’s “Vein of Gold”).

I have been hunting and pecking at this book, of the series it is admittedly not my favorite – but it still has nuggets of information.

One such nugget came under the chapter “Courage.”

The chapter was dealing with the courage to embark on creative endeavor, especially when we do not know the outcome. Such as writing a book and not knowing if it will ever be published.

We tend to wait until we are comfortable and “sure” before we attempt to do something that will take up a good part of our time and energy…feeling of course that if it doesn’t pan out the way we want it to, we have wasted our time.

Julia went on to say: “without the freedom to fail real creative success is impossible. The work that avoids failure, avoids risk, and safe work is dull by definition.”

It dawned on me: this too, works with faith.

The faith that avoids failure, stumbling, hurt, etc. avoids risk…and “safe” faith, is dull faith.

If it’s new to us, it might be exciting at first…as all new things usually are, but then it becomes comfortable and safe.

Safe is comforting, but it also runs the risk of becoming boring.

Sure, we need our safety and comfort from time to time, but if our faith is to grow, to increase, to get closer to God, we need to step out of that safe zone…

We need to take a risk of faith…

The Bible - here we go again!

So, as planned, I started the Bible again on Jan. 1st, 2010.

I am reading the KJV this time around. Last time I mainly read the NIV.

I wondered if there would be translation differences; right off the bat there were:

Gen: 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field...

First: yes that is how it's spelled in the Bible...a very archaic spelling, but meaning subtle. What I find interesting is that we are used to "more cunning." But I like subtle (or subtil) better as to be cunning, one must be subtle...and THAT part of the devil hasn't changed, has it?

If anything, the devil has become more and more subtle, to the point that he is almost ENTIRELY forgotten at the pulpit.

No warnings, no "be carefuls" nothing. Just you and your sin.

But if we read Gen. 3:1-6, we find that the nasty ol' devil got Eve to eat the apple. Many argue this as THE original sin, yet the devil is the one that sinned first - as to cause one to sin, is itself a sin.

In fact, that passage is more important that just original sin, but that's a whole other theological can of worms...so I'll digress.

The point is, the devil is subtle (despite how you decide to spell it) and we must be sure to be on our guard.