Thursday, June 03, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Passing of the Stones Will Be Well Remembered (And I'm not talking about Mick & Keith)
Sunday week ago I had a familiar pain in my back that had "kidney stone" written all over it. I thought it passed. Then Wednesday morning on the way to work I went to the "walk in" after dropping off the mail. The doc said he had had 14 such passings which made this fourth stone of mine seem rather insignificant and small. I got drugs and a Cat-scan and got scheduled to have them--yes two, one on each side--removed on Monday. Thus began the weekend from Hell.
On Saturday pain on a scale of 10 hit again and I started drinking water like crazy and got out my "stash" of oxicondone that I keep for just such emergencies. The pain increased and so I asked Carolyn to take me to the ER. They gave me the really good stuff, morphine and Aretha and I were singing “R E S P E C T” in the car going home-after a stop over in Appleton for even more pain killers at the all night pharmacy.
My songs turned to a dirge by Sunday night because my whole system, front and back, was blocked. Seems narcotics have an interesting side effect which is in the very, very small print of the information which pharmacists give us with the meds. They "may" produce the worse case of constipation ever felt or endured by humankind. So another request to my lovely wife to take me back to the ER. (These people now know us by first names.) My insides were screaming as loudly as the little baby who was hurting as much, if not more, than I.
So they decided which blockage to attack first. A foley catheter was inserted by a male nurse who told me male nurses still make up only about ten percent of the nursing profession. In the past these tubes were inserted while I was knocked out and for a very good reason. This relieved the first blockage quickly. The next jam up was penetrated by another tube which carried suppository. This was a female nurse who had to first ask me for the "umpteenth" time what allergies and medical conditions I have. I said, "Hypertension, kidney stones and endometriosis". She quickly said I doubt if you had that. No, I said, that was Carolyn who was rolling on the ER floor. (I had meant to say diverticulotis--hey I was hurting and for all I cared they could remove whatever was left of my man-hood. Well, even after knowing what its like to be in prison, this took much longer to pass. I had even passed a particle of stone that did not hurt as much as sending three days worth of hard stool through my hemorrhoids. And finally relief. (There's a rumor that it took three aids to remove the pot from the room--well that's the only part of this story which isn't true.)
After Monday finally arrived, my lovely and very tired wife drove me to St. E’s Hospital in Appleton because our insurance only covers the Neenah hospital if it's an "emergency". Finally after five days the time had come for the removal of the stones which would soon be snagged out of my urethra with a little help of the urologist named Fisher...no lie. He scooped, lazared and netted them puppies or guppies. I awoke in recovery were my mouth felt like wool. Later they gave me toast with peanut butter which was drier than the Sierra. I awoke stone less but not stint-less, and still retaining the mother of all these little ones that still lives in my left kidney. Can't wait till that mother passes. Soon my wife, daughter and best friend arrived to watch me gag on the toast and tell me how good I looked and ask me how I felt...feeling lighter and Carolyn took me and my foley home. Services for the stones will be held Sunday as they rest in pieces.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of ups and downs emotionally, physically and "comod-ically". I was suppose to wait till Thursday but Wednesday night the foley had to go so I deflated the balloon and pulled and am finally free. Whoever said freedom doesn't come without pain was right. For now. Seven more days and the stints come out. I can wait.
So, why remember all this? Partly for me but hopefully some of this may help my friends and neighbors who endure similar adventures on their journey. And mainly because when the Rolling Stones are no more making their music (some believe Mick will never die) they will be long and well remembered for what they left behind. And like all hurts and loses, their story needs to be told and retold. To some they were a joke and from them they 'can't get no satisfaction'; to others they were 'mother's little helpers' and to me they will always be the essence of 'you can't always get what you want'.
More important is your life journey--remembered, retold, relived with all its joys, warts, stones and all. ‘Cause baby 'you can always get what you need' if you seek it. Keep on asking and searching. Just keep knock, knock, knocking; it may be right under the next stone.***
http://www.lifeconnectionsinc.com
***May I suggest the "rolled away" one?
On Saturday pain on a scale of 10 hit again and I started drinking water like crazy and got out my "stash" of oxicondone that I keep for just such emergencies. The pain increased and so I asked Carolyn to take me to the ER. They gave me the really good stuff, morphine and Aretha and I were singing “R E S P E C T” in the car going home-after a stop over in Appleton for even more pain killers at the all night pharmacy.
My songs turned to a dirge by Sunday night because my whole system, front and back, was blocked. Seems narcotics have an interesting side effect which is in the very, very small print of the information which pharmacists give us with the meds. They "may" produce the worse case of constipation ever felt or endured by humankind. So another request to my lovely wife to take me back to the ER. (These people now know us by first names.) My insides were screaming as loudly as the little baby who was hurting as much, if not more, than I.
So they decided which blockage to attack first. A foley catheter was inserted by a male nurse who told me male nurses still make up only about ten percent of the nursing profession. In the past these tubes were inserted while I was knocked out and for a very good reason. This relieved the first blockage quickly. The next jam up was penetrated by another tube which carried suppository. This was a female nurse who had to first ask me for the "umpteenth" time what allergies and medical conditions I have. I said, "Hypertension, kidney stones and endometriosis". She quickly said I doubt if you had that. No, I said, that was Carolyn who was rolling on the ER floor. (I had meant to say diverticulotis--hey I was hurting and for all I cared they could remove whatever was left of my man-hood. Well, even after knowing what its like to be in prison, this took much longer to pass. I had even passed a particle of stone that did not hurt as much as sending three days worth of hard stool through my hemorrhoids. And finally relief. (There's a rumor that it took three aids to remove the pot from the room--well that's the only part of this story which isn't true.)
After Monday finally arrived, my lovely and very tired wife drove me to St. E’s Hospital in Appleton because our insurance only covers the Neenah hospital if it's an "emergency". Finally after five days the time had come for the removal of the stones which would soon be snagged out of my urethra with a little help of the urologist named Fisher...no lie. He scooped, lazared and netted them puppies or guppies. I awoke in recovery were my mouth felt like wool. Later they gave me toast with peanut butter which was drier than the Sierra. I awoke stone less but not stint-less, and still retaining the mother of all these little ones that still lives in my left kidney. Can't wait till that mother passes. Soon my wife, daughter and best friend arrived to watch me gag on the toast and tell me how good I looked and ask me how I felt...feeling lighter and Carolyn took me and my foley home. Services for the stones will be held Sunday as they rest in pieces.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of ups and downs emotionally, physically and "comod-ically". I was suppose to wait till Thursday but Wednesday night the foley had to go so I deflated the balloon and pulled and am finally free. Whoever said freedom doesn't come without pain was right. For now. Seven more days and the stints come out. I can wait.
So, why remember all this? Partly for me but hopefully some of this may help my friends and neighbors who endure similar adventures on their journey. And mainly because when the Rolling Stones are no more making their music (some believe Mick will never die) they will be long and well remembered for what they left behind. And like all hurts and loses, their story needs to be told and retold. To some they were a joke and from them they 'can't get no satisfaction'; to others they were 'mother's little helpers' and to me they will always be the essence of 'you can't always get what you want'.
More important is your life journey--remembered, retold, relived with all its joys, warts, stones and all. ‘Cause baby 'you can always get what you need' if you seek it. Keep on asking and searching. Just keep knock, knock, knocking; it may be right under the next stone.***
http://www.lifeconnectionsinc.com
***May I suggest the "rolled away" one?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
"I Like Women"
What is amazing to me that it has taken me 63 years to figure out that I really like women. I was taught to lust at, leer at, jeer at, sneer at, joke at and completely objectify girls and women. In my patriarchal up-bringing women were to be ruled, used and abused. Except for mom and sisters, who of course are in some strange mystical way not really viewed as women.
Some call it a love-hate relationship most men have toward women. Here's what Sam Keen wrote decades ago:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAN’S UNCONSCIOUS BONDAGE TO WOMAN
Cliché and common wisdom tell us that “it’s a man’s world.” In the accepted mythology of our time, men are independent and women dependent; men dominate and women yield; men make history and women provide emotional support. Folklore, lately expanded into a cottage industry of books about the uncommitted male, has it that men are phobic about intimacy, are tongue tied about emotions, and generally keep an antiseptic distance between themselves and females of their species. At best, or so the complaint goes, we end up committing ourselves because we want a secure sexual connection. Otherwise we follow George Washington’s advice and avoid entangling alliances. Real men don’t depend on women. We stand tall and alone. In locker rooms all across America, boys who are just beginning to sprout pubic hair learn the ancient adolescent litany of the five F’s that prescribes the proper relationship with women: Find ‘em, fool ‘em, feel ‘em, f... ‘em and forget ‘em. The average man spends a lifetime denying, defending against, trying to control, and reacting to the power of WOMAN. We have invested so much of our identity, committed so much of our energy, and squandered so much of our power trying to control, avoid, conquer, or demean women because we are so vulnerable to their mysterious power over us.
Adapted from Keen, S. Fire in the belly: On being a man. New York, Bantam Books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what's this all about--really? And despite some of Sam Keen's interesting insights, I really don't think we need to blame "women's mysterious power over us". It really seems to me to be more about us not being afraid to be men or for us as men not being afraid of women being women. And being honest about what's really going on (even if we don't know). It's not really rocket science my fellow male friends. My guess is that women have known it for years, maybe from the very beginning. Us men just are not all that complicated. And we really need to listen, really listen to what women have been trying to tell us for years. For one thing: grow up!
Men come into the world like all children do, with an X and a Y sex chromosome and are socialized to think with the organ between our legs-- which has veto power over the organ between our ears--our brains. Females come into the world with 2 X sex-chromosomes and have been socialized to think with the organ behind their breasts (their hearts)--which has veto power over the organ between their ears. Certainly this is a super over simplified analogy--because remember, being a man, I'm not all that complicated. And men we aren't stupid. Unaware certainly, but not stupid.
And please guys, I'm really trying my best not to "MAN-BASH". (I don't believe in bashing men, women, children or Republicans :). It's ironic that the male sex chromosomes determine the gender of the beautiful being brought into the world known as "child". Also as ironic, is that population speaking, men are the minority. And if this really was a democratic republic--where majority rules--it could be us men who were oppressed, ignored, dominated, controlled and "put in their place" by women. Imagine that John Lennon, "Imagine" that.
I say "could be", yet I would hope that no one would be oppressed because of their gender, orientation, age, belief, race, religion, income or political affiliation.
So, all that was said as an introduction to why "I Like Women" and here are some of the reasons why:
I LIKE WOMEN BECAUSE---
1. Women are people.
2. Women are intelligent people.
3. Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex.
4 Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex and know how to have fun.
5. Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex and know how to have fun without hurting...
6. Women are intelligent, beautiful people wha are amazingly complex and know how to have fun without hurting; and women are made in the very image of GOD as are men.
7. Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex and know how to have fun without hurting; and women are made in the very image of God as are men and we both can become ONE with GOD's Heart and ours.
" To be continued" (My plan is to take these and expand on each one.)
Some call it a love-hate relationship most men have toward women. Here's what Sam Keen wrote decades ago:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAN’S UNCONSCIOUS BONDAGE TO WOMAN
Cliché and common wisdom tell us that “it’s a man’s world.” In the accepted mythology of our time, men are independent and women dependent; men dominate and women yield; men make history and women provide emotional support. Folklore, lately expanded into a cottage industry of books about the uncommitted male, has it that men are phobic about intimacy, are tongue tied about emotions, and generally keep an antiseptic distance between themselves and females of their species. At best, or so the complaint goes, we end up committing ourselves because we want a secure sexual connection. Otherwise we follow George Washington’s advice and avoid entangling alliances. Real men don’t depend on women. We stand tall and alone. In locker rooms all across America, boys who are just beginning to sprout pubic hair learn the ancient adolescent litany of the five F’s that prescribes the proper relationship with women: Find ‘em, fool ‘em, feel ‘em, f... ‘em and forget ‘em. The average man spends a lifetime denying, defending against, trying to control, and reacting to the power of WOMAN. We have invested so much of our identity, committed so much of our energy, and squandered so much of our power trying to control, avoid, conquer, or demean women because we are so vulnerable to their mysterious power over us.
Adapted from Keen, S. Fire in the belly: On being a man. New York, Bantam Books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what's this all about--really? And despite some of Sam Keen's interesting insights, I really don't think we need to blame "women's mysterious power over us". It really seems to me to be more about us not being afraid to be men or for us as men not being afraid of women being women. And being honest about what's really going on (even if we don't know). It's not really rocket science my fellow male friends. My guess is that women have known it for years, maybe from the very beginning. Us men just are not all that complicated. And we really need to listen, really listen to what women have been trying to tell us for years. For one thing: grow up!
Men come into the world like all children do, with an X and a Y sex chromosome and are socialized to think with the organ between our legs-- which has veto power over the organ between our ears--our brains. Females come into the world with 2 X sex-chromosomes and have been socialized to think with the organ behind their breasts (their hearts)--which has veto power over the organ between their ears. Certainly this is a super over simplified analogy--because remember, being a man, I'm not all that complicated. And men we aren't stupid. Unaware certainly, but not stupid.
And please guys, I'm really trying my best not to "MAN-BASH". (I don't believe in bashing men, women, children or Republicans :). It's ironic that the male sex chromosomes determine the gender of the beautiful being brought into the world known as "child". Also as ironic, is that population speaking, men are the minority. And if this really was a democratic republic--where majority rules--it could be us men who were oppressed, ignored, dominated, controlled and "put in their place" by women. Imagine that John Lennon, "Imagine" that.
I say "could be", yet I would hope that no one would be oppressed because of their gender, orientation, age, belief, race, religion, income or political affiliation.
So, all that was said as an introduction to why "I Like Women" and here are some of the reasons why:
I LIKE WOMEN BECAUSE---
1. Women are people.
2. Women are intelligent people.
3. Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex.
4 Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex and know how to have fun.
5. Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex and know how to have fun without hurting...
6. Women are intelligent, beautiful people wha are amazingly complex and know how to have fun without hurting; and women are made in the very image of GOD as are men.
7. Women are intelligent, beautiful people who are amazingly complex and know how to have fun without hurting; and women are made in the very image of God as are men and we both can become ONE with GOD's Heart and ours.
" To be continued" (My plan is to take these and expand on each one.)
Friday, April 02, 2010
Top Ten Things the Easter Bunny Doesn't Like
What a great time of year. New life, new flowers, warm sunshine, and the Easter Bunny. One of Carolyn's day-care children's favorite friend is a stuffed bunny she calls "HOP HOP". Today she declared that Hop Hop does not like chipmunks. It just got me thinking, which is usually
a good thing: what else might Hop Hop or the Easter Bunny not like? Well here's my--
Top Ten Things the Easter Bunny Doesn't Like
# 10. Elmer Fudd
# 9. Moth Balls
# 8. Dogs
# 7. Fake or plastic eggs
# 6. Rabbit Stew
# 5. Falling down deep holes--
# 4. Alice falling down deep holes on top of it.
# 3. Hiding all those eggs.
# 2. Getting popped on the head.
And the number one thing that Hop Hop or the Easter Bunny doesn't like.
# 1. Getting more attention than Jesus on Easter Sunday.
Have a great NEW LIFE. It's what Resurrection Sunday is all about.
a good thing: what else might Hop Hop or the Easter Bunny not like? Well here's my--
Top Ten Things the Easter Bunny Doesn't Like
# 10. Elmer Fudd
# 9. Moth Balls
# 8. Dogs
# 7. Fake or plastic eggs
# 6. Rabbit Stew
# 5. Falling down deep holes--
# 4. Alice falling down deep holes on top of it.
# 3. Hiding all those eggs.
# 2. Getting popped on the head.
And the number one thing that Hop Hop or the Easter Bunny doesn't like.
# 1. Getting more attention than Jesus on Easter Sunday.
Have a great NEW LIFE. It's what Resurrection Sunday is all about.
Friday, March 26, 2010
HURTS THAT HURT OUR HEARTS
We were talking in our "searchers group" last night about what the Bible may mean when it talks about "hardening of the heart". Pharaoh of Moses' day seemed to have that condition. Even "the twelve disciples" of Jesus had it. I don't know for sure what all that it may mean. I can speak to when my heart is hard. It's like an emotional or psychological blockage. And either somethings not getting through or not getting out of my "heart" (mind) or possibly both. It's blocked, stuck, "un-soft"-- if there is such a word. If not, I just invented it.
My father-in-law had easily over 25 angioplasty procedures done during his life. Here's a discription of what happens during one of these procedures:
Blocked coronary arteries, which supply the heart muscle with nutrients and oxygen, can be repaired with bypass surgery or a balloon procedure called angioplasty. A thin flexible catheter with a balloon at the tip is threaded through an artery (usually in the groin) to the heart and clogged artery. The balloon is then inflated to open up the artery. A thin wire mesh stent is often used to help keep it open, even after the balloon is deflated. Some stents contain drugs to help keep the artery open.
What could be causing the blockage to your heart and causing it to be hard?
I cannot do much better than an 1850 sermon that addresses this "spiritual issue"
HARDENING THE HEART
A Sermon
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 1, 1850,
BY THE REV. C. G. FINNEY
(OF OBERLIN COLLEGE, UNITED STATES.)
AT THE TABERNACLE, MOORFIELDS, LONDON.
"Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." --Heb. iv. 7.
This reference to David relates to the ninety-fifth Psalm, from which these words were quoted. The apostle was addressing the Israelites, and, in this connexion, was speaking to them of the manner in which their forefathers tempted God in the wilderness, the result of which was that they were not suffered to enter into the promised land. In warning the Israelites against unbelief, he says to them, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
I. I SHALL INQUIRE INTO THE MEANING OF THE WORD "HEART," AS HERE USED.
This term, like many others in the Bible, and in common language, is employed in a variety of senses. Here, however, it manifestly means the "will." To harden the heart, in the sense in which the phrase is here understood, is doubtless to gather up the energies of the will, and to resist, to become stubborn, and obstinate. When the Bible commands or exhorts people not to harden their hearts, it is equivalent to saying, "Do not resist and strengthen yourselves against the voice of God. Do not become stubborn and rebellious, and set yourselves against the voice of mercy; but to-day, after so long a time, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." That is, if you are inclined to listen to what he says, you are not to harden your hearts and become stubborn.
Parents sometimes have the mortification of seeing their own children become stubborn against parental authority, and of seeing their requirements resisted, and their counsels set at nought. Parents often see children, when they undertake to press them to do anything, instead of obeying, wax stubborn and rebellious. They stand and resist, and manifest a cool determination to persevere in their disobedience; to persist in resisting the claims of their parents; and, so far as the philosophy of the act is concerned, resistance to God is just the same. The mental process is precisely similar. The mind resisting truth "is hardening the heart," in the sense of the text. I shall next inquire--
II. HOW IS IT THAT SINNERS DO HARDEN THEIR HEARTS?
How do they do this? And here let me say, that when individuals resist the truth--when they resist its authority when it is presented to them--they have to make some apology for their conduct. The natural tendency of the truth, when it is presented to the mind, is to convince it--to beget a choice--to lead the individual to yield himself up to its influence. The mind and truth sustain such relations to each other, that the former is naturally and necessarily influenced by the latter; and, unless the individual resist the truth, its natural tendency is, as I have said, to lead the will into a state of obedience to it.
When persons harden their hearts, there must be some reason for their doing so. Take the case of the Jews,--the apostle called on them not to harden their hearts. He knew they were in danger in doing so. He knew their prejudices of education, their Jewish notions, and peculiar views of things. He knew the course they had taken with Christ previous to his crucifixion, and now he had been crucified, had risen from the dead, and was proclaimed to the world as a risen Saviour--he was writing this epistle to the Jews, and therefore reverts to a passage of their former national history. He calls their particular attention to it; and, when he had strongly fixed their minds upon the course their fathers pursued, and its results--knowing well to whom he was addressing himself, being well versed, as I have said, in the prejudices against Christ--knowing their self-righteous spirit, and that they were prepared to resist Christ--knowing all these things, he warns them solemnly not to harden their hearts. It is easy to see that they could assign themselves multitudes of reasons for resistance. He knew that they were in error--and in great error--on the subject of religion, and therefore he called on them not to harden themselves--not to betake themselves to their prejudices--not to fly to their Jewish errors and peculiar notions, and to strengthen themselves in opposition to the truth.
This leads me to say that persons are very much in danger of hardening themselves, by holding fast to some erroneous opinion or improper practice to which they are committed. All their prejudices are in favour of it, and they are very jealous lest anything should disturb it. They hold on to some particular error, and whenever they are pressed to yield to the claims of God, unless it is done in a peculiar way, so as to be consistent with their prejudices, they are apt to rise up and strengthen themselves against it. What danger such persons are in of assigning to themselves, as a reason for resisting the truth, that it clashes with some of their favorite notions! When they see its practical results contradict some pet theory of theirs, they will strengthen themselves against it.
I recollect an instance of this kind. One evening, in the city of New York, I found among the inquirers a very anxious lady, who was exceedingly convicted of her sins, and pressed her strongly to submit to God. "Ah," she said, "if I were sure I am in the right church, I would." "The right church!" said I, "I care not what church you are in, if you will only submit yourself to Christ." "But," she replied, "I am not in the Catholic Church, I am not in the right church; if I were, I would yield." So that her anxiety about the "right church" prevented her yielding at all, and she continued to harden her heart against Christ. This is often the case whether persons are Catholics, or whatever they are; when pressed strongly to submit, they flee to some prejudice, and immediately hide themselves behind it; and although they cannot deny the truth of what they resist, still there is some error or prejudice to which they betake themselves by way of present resistance to the truth that is pressing their consciences.
Others harden themselves by indulging in a spirit of procrastination. "I will follow thee," is their language, "but not now." They say, "I intend to be religious," but when God presses them to yield, they are not quite ready. They say, "This is not exactly the time," assigning to themselves some reason for present delay in order to harden themselves. They have something, perhaps, in hand, which must be attended to first. Do let me ask you, now, how many times some of you, when thus pressed to yield at once to Christ, have urged some such reason as this for your delay?
Why are you not Christians? Is it because your attention has never been called to the subject? Is it because you never intend to be Christians? No! Well, what is the matter with you? How is it that you have always succeeded in assigning to yourself a reason for a present delay? One time, you have one reason, at another, another; and you have, in fact, as many reasons as occasions, and they come up whenever you have been pressed immediately to surrender your heart to God. Now, I ask you if this is not true? I ask you if you do not know that it is true, as well as you know that you exist?
I remark again, that many persons strengthen themselves and harden their hearts by refusing, wherever they can refuse, to be convicted of their sins. They have a multitude of ways of avoiding the point, and force away the truth, and hardening themselves against it. Take care, for instance, of the practice of excusing sin. The veriest sinner in the world will make some excuse for what he is doing; and at least it suffices to satisfy himself. It is exceedingly difficult to convince a man against his will; it is remarkable to see how a man will evade conviction. Go to the slaveholder, for instance, and how many excuses he will make! How many things he will conjure up! Sometimes he will even flee to the Bible to defend himself; at other times, he will excuse himself by saying that he knows not what to do with his slaves--that the laws of his State forbid him to emancipate them. You may press him on every point--you may reason with him again and again, but all to no purpose. Men often excuse and defend their sins in this way; and sometimes they actually deny that they are sins at all, when they come to be pressed to give them up; but the apologies they make are such as God will never receive, although they suffice, at present, to delude themselves.
But again: Another way in which men harden themselves is, that they are unwilling to come and do what is implied in becoming Christians. They reason thus within themselves:--"I must give up such and such things, if I become a Christian I must do thus and thus." They consider that they must make a profession of religion, and that, therefore, the eyes of the world will be thenceforth upon them; they see that they must consequently be careful how they conduct themselves. They cannot go to such and such places of amusement; they must discontinue such and such things they have been in the habit of doing, and which are now so dear to them. This is how they reason; they begin to count the cost. But a short time since, I was pressing an individual to yield up certain forms of sin of which I knew him to be guilty. "Ah," said he, "if I begin to yield this and that, where will it all end? I must be consistent," said he, "and where shall I stop?" Where should he "stop?" It was clear that the cost was too great, and that he was therefore disposed to harden himself and resist God's claims, because he considered God required too much. If he were going to become a Christian, he knew that, to do his duty, he must give up sin as sin, and that it would cost him the sacrifice of his many idols. This is a very common practice. If you ask persons, in a general way, they are willing to be Christians; but "what will be expected of them?" Ah! that is quite a different thing! If you tell them what it really is to be a Christian, that is quite another thing. Now you have set them to count the cost, and they find it will involve too great a sacrifice. They are wholly unwilling to renounce themselves and their idols; and accordingly they betake themselves to hardening their hearts, and strengthening themselves in unbelief.
I will cite the case just referred to for a moment. The conversation respected, at that time, a particular form of sin. Now, why did he not yield at once? Why did he not instantly say, "I will give it up. I know it is wrong and inconsistent with love to God, and I will therefore renounce it." But instead of this, he saw that the principle on which he yielded this point would compel him to give up others; and, therefore, he said, "if I begin this, where shall I stop?" He gathered up all the reasons he could, and strengthened himself in his position. Thus he was hardening his heart; this was just what the Jews did when Christ preached.
Thus it is men perceive that it will call upon them to humble themselves before God, and make restitution where they have been fraudulent in their dealings; they see that to become Christians, implies that they undo, as far as it lies in their power, the wrong they may have committed, and become honest men. They see that multitudes of things are implied in listening to the voice of God, and becoming followers of Jesus Christ, and this causes them to surround themselves with considerations to sustain them in their unbelief and resistance to the authority of God. I might mention a great many other particulars under this head; I shall not, however, at present, do so, but in a few words show,
III. WHY MEN SHOULD NOT HARDEN THEIR HEARTS IN THIS WAY.
Perhaps the first thing that I shall notice will startle some of you. It is this; you should not harden your hearts, "because, if you do not do so, you will be converted."
I have already said, that truth is so related to the mind, and the mind to truth, that when the mind perceives truth, with its practical bearing, this relation acts as a powerful impulse to the mind, tending strongly to induce it to yield and conform; it is a natural stimulus to the mind, prompting it to act in a given direction. To be sure, it can be resisted; and it is this resistance that God exhorts you to avoid you are to let the truth take effect.
You recollect, perhaps, some of you, that the apostle says--I believe it is in the Epistle to the Romans--however, in the particular passage to which I was going to refer, God denounces those who restrain the truth, and go on in unrighteousness; that is, those who hold it back, and prevent it from influencing their mind. This is the way the heart is hardened, by refusing to yield to the truth, withholding the mind from going out in obedience to it.
Now observe, beloved, that if the truth is but yielded to, this is conversion itself. Conversion is the act of the mind in turning from error, selfishness, and sin, and yielding to the claims, and obeying the commands of the Almighty. This is conversion.
Now, as I said, the natural tendency of the truth is to stimulate the mind to embrace and obey it. God has so constituted the mind, that, as everybody knows, truth is a most powerful stimulant, which invites and draws the mind in a given direction. Truth induces it to act in conformity with its dictates. Now, to do this, to obey the truth, that is conversion. If you do not obey it, it is because you harden yourself against it, and resist its influences; for it is an utter impossibility to be indifferent to the presentation of truth, and especially is it utterly impossible to maintain a blank indifference to the presentation of the great practical truths of Christianity. They are not mere abstractions, in which the mind sees no practical bearing, but they are realities of such a nature that the mind must either resist them or suffer them to guide it.
The apostle knew that if they did not harden themselves, they must surely be converted.
Another reason why you should not harden your hearts, is, that you will not be converted if you do. In other words, if you resist the Spirit, God never forces you against your will. If he cannot persuade you to embrace the truth, he cannot save you by a physical act of omnipotence, as, for instance, he could create a world. You are a free moral agent, and he can save you only in his own way. In other words, if he cannot gain your own consent to be saved in his own way, he cannot possibly save you at all. If you wish him to save you by moving your will, as I would move this lamp--[Mr. Finney here moved the branch of one of the pulpit lamps to and fro]--I say, if he is to save you as I move this lamp, he will not do it. It is not a physical operation that can make you willing; that is not the way in which the will is controlled. He must have your consent; and when he sends his ministers to reason with you,--when his Spirit strives with you,--he strives to gain your free consent; hence he says, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." If conversion were a mere act of the physical omnipotence of God, he would not exhort you not to harden your hearts; for how could you harden your hearts against, and resist a physical almightiness?
Men who have this conception scoff at the idea of the sinner's hardening himself against God. Persons who talk thus, of course, assume, that conversion does consist in an act of omnipotence; they seem unable to comprehend that conversion consists in God's securing your own consent, and that is all. Did you ever consider this, dying sinner? Did you ever reflect on the fact, that all that is necessary, is, to give your consent to be saved? You fancy you are willing; but the fact is, that your obstinacy is the only real difficulty to be overcome--to get you to yield yourself up to God's claims. It is easy for you to see, that if you harden your heart, and surround yourself with prejudices, gather all your energies up to resist,--if you do this, it is easy for you to see that you can only expect to remain unconverted--to live, and die, and perish in your sins! While you harden yourself, it is impossible that you should be converted, for conversion is the very opposite of this resistance--it is the yielding yourself up: [to] the claims of God.
Another reason why you should not harden your hearts, is, that you may be given up! God may give you up to the hardness of your hearts. The Bible shows that this is not uncommon. Whole generations of the Jews were thus given up. You may be, and there is considerable danger; the same God of mercy that now governs the world gave up whole generations in that comparatively dark generation; and if so, what reason have we to suppose that he will not do so with you? God, under the Gospel, is not more merciful than he was under the law--he is the same God. Some think there is not so much danger of this now; but the fact is, there is more, because there is more light. He gives them up because they resist the light of the truth with regard to his claims. I beg of you to consider this.
IV. WE SHALL INQUIRE, WHOSE "VOICE" IS HERE REFERRED TO?
Is it the voice of a tyrant, who comes out with his omnipotent arm to crush you? "If you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Whose voice is it? In the first place, it is the voice of God; but, more than this, it is the voice of your Father! But is it the voice of your Father, with the rod of correction pursuing you, to subdue you by force? Oh, no! it is the voice of his mercy--of his deepest compassion. Hear what he says: "Ephraim, my dear son; Ephraim, my pleasant child;" for although he spake against him, yet did he "earnestly remember him still." Like a father who has almost made up his mind to abandon a disobedient and cruel child, whose misconduct he could not endure, and whom he found it impossible to reform. All the father works up in him at the remembrance of that child; the parental heart yearned over him. "I have spoken against him, yet do I earnestly remember him still."
Just so God addresses you. He "earnestly remembers" you. He offers to forgive you. He says, "after so long a time." How long a time? How old are you? How many long years has God waited for you? Just number them up--some of you, perhaps, eighteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty. How many years have you refused to hear the voice of your Father, your Saviour; the voice of mercy, the voice of invitation, the voice of promise, the voice of expostulation, and even of entreaty? By his providence, the work of the Spirit, the words of the inspired volume, the ministrations of his servants--in how many ways has this voice reached you? And now he says, "after so long a time!"
A few further remarks must close what I have to say; and the first remark is this: persons often mistake the true nature of hardness of heart. Supposing it to be involuntary, they lament it as a misfortune, rather than regret it as a crime. They suppose that the state of apathy which results from the resistance of their will, is hardness of heart. It is true that the mind apologises to itself for resistance to the claims of God, and, as a natural consequence, there is very little feeling in the mind, because it is under the necessity of making such a use of its powers as to cause great destitution of feeling. This is hardening the heart--that act of the mind in resisting the claims of God. For persons to excuse themselves by complaining that their hearts are hard, is only to add insult to injury. They resist God's claims, and then complain of the hardness this resistance induces; they harden themselves in the ways we have stated, rendering themselves obstinate against God, and then they complain of the results of their own actions. Now, is this the way?
I remark, once more, it is worthy of notice that the claims, commands, promises, and invitations of God are all in the present tense. Turn to the Bible, and from end to end you will find it is, "To-day" if ye will hear his voice. "Now" is the accepted time. God says nothing of to-morrow; he does not even guarantee that we shall live till then. It is "to-day," after so long a time, harden not your hearts."
Again: The plea of inability is one of the most paltry, abusive, and blasphemous of all. What! Are men not able to refrain from hardening themselves? I have already said, and you all know, that it is the nature of truth to influence the mind when it receives it; and when the Spirit does convert a man, it is by so presenting the truth as to gain his consent. Now, if there was not something in the truth itself adapted to influence the mind, he might continue to present the truth for ever, without your ever being converted. It is because there is an adaptedness in truth--something in the very nature of it, which tends to influence the mind of man. Now, when persons complain of their inability to embrace the truth, what an infinite mistake! God approaches with offers of mercy, and with the cup of salvation in his hand, saying, "Sinner! I am coming! Beware not to harden yourself. Do not cavil. Do not hide behind professors of religion. Do not procrastinate! for I am coming to win you."
Now, what does the sinner do? Why, he falls to hardening his heart, procrastinating, making all manner of excuses, and pleading his inability. Inability! What! Is not a man able to refrain from surrounding himself with considerations which make him stubborn? Is he not able to come from this soul-destroying business of hardening himself? Oh! sinner, you are able; that is not the difficulty.
Once more: I said this is a most abusive way of treating God. Why, just think. Here is God endeavouring to gain the sinner's consent--to what? Not be sent to hell. Oh, no! he is not trying to persuade you so to harden yourself as to consent to lie down in everlasting sorrow. Oh, no! he is not trying to persuade you to do anything, or to consent to anything, that will injure you. Oh, no! he is not trying to persuade you to give up anything that is really good--the relinquishment of which will make you wretched or unhappy--to give up all joy, and everything that is pleasant--to give up things that tend to peace--he is not endeavouring to persuade you to do any such thing as this. With regard to all such things, he is not only willing that you should have them, but would bring you into a state in which you could really enjoy them. He cries out, "Sinner! do thyself no harm!" He is trying to prevent you from injuring yourself, and not endeavouring to play off any game upon you which will interfere with your well-being or happiness; he is trying to prevent your ruining yourselves, and trying to consent to be blessed. Will it hurt you to give up your sins? God sent Christ to turn you away from those courses which, by a natural law, must prove your ruin. What is it, then, that God wishes you to do?
What is that sweet voice which falls so sweetly from heaven? it should melt all stubbornness down. It is the voice of his infinite compassion and love. Oh, sinner, destroy not thine own soul! Flee not from the Saviour who has come to save you! Harden not yourself against the offered mercy; and, now that the cross of salvation is passed around from lip to lip, do not push it away! What are you doing? Is God come to injure you? If he had come in wrath, he would not care whether you hardened your heart or not. O sinner! if you place him in such a relation that his infinite heart is obliged to make the sacrifice, when he enters into judgment, he will not tell you not to harden yourself. Then you may harden yourself if you can. He says, "Can thy heart be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee?" Oh, no! But now it is different. Now he comes and sweetly tries to win you--he comes as a friend, as a father, as a Saviour! spreading out his broad arms of love to embosom you every one, drawing you so near to his great, gushing heart as to thrill its tides of eternal love through all your being. Oh! will you resist? What! "after so long a time!" Oh! sinner, is it not infinitely inexcusable? Shall he fail to get your consent? Then, when you sit before him in solemn judgment, and the universe shall all be gathered together, he will publish the fact of how, after he tried to spread out his broad, beneficent arms of love over you--how, after he tried to gather you under the wings of his protection--but ye would not! He could not gain your consent! What! shall it be told of any of you in the solemn judgment that God could not possibly gain your consent to the only terms on which he could possibly save you? Ah! when he shakes his skirts, as it were, and exclaims, "I am clear of thy blood!" what will you say?
Again, he will have the eternal consolation of knowing that he has taken all the pains to get you to consent that he wisely could take. You will be obliged to say, "The fault was my own, and I have been an infinite fool! I have resisted the claims of Christ, hardened myself against his dying love, and cast away my soul!" Sinners! how many times have you been invited? Can you remember? How many times have you seen the Lord's Table spread? Are you prepared to partake of the elements now about to be spread--the solemn avowal of your attachment to Christ? How many times, I ask again, have you been invited? Have you not had enough of sin? How much more do you want? Let me ask you another question--how much longer would you like to live in your sins? How many years have you already devoted to them? Do you think God ought to allow you to enjoy a little more sin? Suppose he, personally, put the questions, "Do you think I ought to allow you to live any longer in your sins? Do you think I ought to let you live to remain in rebellion any longer!" Suppose he should say, "Unless I fan your heaving lungs in sleep to-night you will be lost. Unless I keep you, you will lie down in hell before the morning. Now, do you think I ought to keep you alive to sin against me another day? Do you think that when you lie down in your sins, I ought to watch over you, and see that you do not die; and that Satan does not steal away your soul, and drag you down to the depths of hell?" Dare you look the Eternal in the face and say, "Yes, Lord." Dare you say, "I think I ought to be indulged a little longer, and not be hurried in this way?" No, indeed! You know you are without excuse. You could only say that you are "infinitely to blame," and you are in infinite danger if you do not to-night cease to sin, and yield yourself up.
[Mr. Finney, after a short prayer, dismissed the congregation, while the church remained to celebrate the Lord's Supper; however, seeing that between three and four hundred persons kept their seats, as "spectators," in the spacious galleries, Mr. Finney, after the administration of the ordinance by the pastor (the Rev. Dr. Campbell), again addressed the assembly.]
Christ has invited you to "do this in remembrance" of him. Whose business is this? Is it your only, or mine only; or is it equally incumbent on both? Did Christ die for you, and not for me? or for me, and not for you? or did he give himself up for us all? Surely it is the duty of all to "do this" for whom Christ died. Did he tell you to "do this," and you have really never done it? How is this? I want to know why you have never done it? Is it because you are not a Christian? Why are you not? When Dr. Campbell (the pastor of the church) announced that the communicants would seat themselves below, while the spectators would retire to the gallery--Spectators! non-communicants!" said I to myself; "who are these non-communicants? Are there, then, those of Adam's race for whom Christ has not died? Are there those who will thus openly acknowledge that they have "[']no part or lot in the matter?'" Suppose, now, that Christ actually had died only for a part of mankind, and you knew that it had no more reference to you non-communicants in the gallery than to the fallen angels! If you knew this, why, of course, I should expect to see you non-communicants; for why should you celebrate his death if his blood was not shed for you? You might then absent yourselves with some reason.
But, if this were the case, how could you sit round that gallery and look on? Now, do take this view of the matter, and consider it for a moment.
But Christ says, "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters of life--come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,"--"Come unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth." Suppose, then, that the cup were handed round to you--would you say, "Oh! I am not prepared; I am not a Christian?" Why are you not? You shut yourself out by your own consent.
"Not prepared!" You are neglecting Christ, and hardening your hearts against him--that is the reason you are "not prepared."
"Not prepared!" Just think of it! Who is it that requests you to "do this?" It is a friend--a dying friend--a friend dying in your stead. What does he say? He says, "I am just going to offer up my life for you: break this bread, pour out this wine, and partake of them in remembrance of me--partake ye all of it, and when you do so, remember my struggle, my groans, my agony, and death." Will you obey this dying injunction? Why, then, do you thus turn your backs upon it?
Suppose that a mortal should do you a similar favour? Suppose a fellow-creature should bleed and die in your stead, and in the agony of death should take a ring from his finger, and say--"Here, dear friend, take this, wear it, look at it, and as often as you do so, remember me!" How would you regard this love-token presented in the hour of nature's final struggle? Would you throw the ring lightly away? Suppose any one should say--"Give me that ring;" or, "How much will you take for it?" How much would you take for it? why you would sooner part with your heart's blood than lose it; and if they inquired why you so prized it, you would tell them your simple story, and assure them that nothing could induce you to part with it.
Now, think of this! Yet when Christ made an effort to save you from endless death, by suffering himself, how indifferent you are! Was it a mere ring? No! He took bread and brake it, saying, "This is my body which was broken for you;" he took wine and poured out, saying, "This is my blood which was shed for you, do this in remembrance of me." Who is to "do this?" Why, all of you; seeing that for all of you his blood was shed.
But practically you say, "I will not do this," and turn your back on the ordinance. What must angels think, when they see a number of persons for whom Christ died, and to whom he said, "Do this in remembrance of me," but who will not do it? If there can be amazement in heaven, surely this would cause it.
Now, will you ever neglect it again? I recollect an instance of an individual present at a season like this, when the question came up about his long neglect, when he was so impressed by the consideration of the sin and danger of his position, that he resolved on the spot, that he would never voluntarily neglect it again. At the next communion he was there, and could rejoice in the resolution he had taken, to drawn near that great heart of love. After that he was always one of the first at the table.
What do you say to-night? Now think of this when you lay your head on your pillow to night. Can you say, "Lord, this night have I rejected thee publicly before the whole congregation." Try to go to sleep, but say first, "Lord, do not let me die to-night, I have just come away from thy table and refused to acknowledge thee, and do not let me go to hell to-night."
Would you not blush to talk thus? would you not rather say, "O my God! I have to-night rejected Jesus, and how dare I sleep in my sins? This night, Lord, I in my heart give thee a solemn pledge, that, by thy grace, I will never turn my back on that ordinance again. It shall never be said of me (by thy grace), that I am not prepared. I will remember thee; and in the presence of heaven and earth, I will manifest my gratitude to thee from this time." Oh! let it be written in heaven!
Yep, 1850 was a long time ago and preachers sure did preach a long time in those days.
I personally believe one thing that can help "un-harden" our hearts is to look at the pain instead of ignoring it. What's hurting your heart? What's keeping it hard? What makes you and I so stubborn and "hardhearted"? What can we do to soften our hearts?
What makes our hearts hard? What blocks our heart? And if possible, how can we unblock it?
Is it fear? Is it pain? Is it hurt? What if owning the hurts would help soften our hearts?
What hurts? The hurts we've done and the one's which have been done to us.
I believe that HURTS THAT HURT OUR HEARTS COULD HELP US IF WE'D ACKNOWLEDGE THEM.
What do you think?
Remember: As we think in our hearts so are we.
My father-in-law had easily over 25 angioplasty procedures done during his life. Here's a discription of what happens during one of these procedures:
Blocked coronary arteries, which supply the heart muscle with nutrients and oxygen, can be repaired with bypass surgery or a balloon procedure called angioplasty. A thin flexible catheter with a balloon at the tip is threaded through an artery (usually in the groin) to the heart and clogged artery. The balloon is then inflated to open up the artery. A thin wire mesh stent is often used to help keep it open, even after the balloon is deflated. Some stents contain drugs to help keep the artery open.
What could be causing the blockage to your heart and causing it to be hard?
I cannot do much better than an 1850 sermon that addresses this "spiritual issue"
HARDENING THE HEART
A Sermon
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 1, 1850,
BY THE REV. C. G. FINNEY
(OF OBERLIN COLLEGE, UNITED STATES.)
AT THE TABERNACLE, MOORFIELDS, LONDON.
"Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." --Heb. iv. 7.
This reference to David relates to the ninety-fifth Psalm, from which these words were quoted. The apostle was addressing the Israelites, and, in this connexion, was speaking to them of the manner in which their forefathers tempted God in the wilderness, the result of which was that they were not suffered to enter into the promised land. In warning the Israelites against unbelief, he says to them, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
I. I SHALL INQUIRE INTO THE MEANING OF THE WORD "HEART," AS HERE USED.
This term, like many others in the Bible, and in common language, is employed in a variety of senses. Here, however, it manifestly means the "will." To harden the heart, in the sense in which the phrase is here understood, is doubtless to gather up the energies of the will, and to resist, to become stubborn, and obstinate. When the Bible commands or exhorts people not to harden their hearts, it is equivalent to saying, "Do not resist and strengthen yourselves against the voice of God. Do not become stubborn and rebellious, and set yourselves against the voice of mercy; but to-day, after so long a time, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." That is, if you are inclined to listen to what he says, you are not to harden your hearts and become stubborn.
Parents sometimes have the mortification of seeing their own children become stubborn against parental authority, and of seeing their requirements resisted, and their counsels set at nought. Parents often see children, when they undertake to press them to do anything, instead of obeying, wax stubborn and rebellious. They stand and resist, and manifest a cool determination to persevere in their disobedience; to persist in resisting the claims of their parents; and, so far as the philosophy of the act is concerned, resistance to God is just the same. The mental process is precisely similar. The mind resisting truth "is hardening the heart," in the sense of the text. I shall next inquire--
II. HOW IS IT THAT SINNERS DO HARDEN THEIR HEARTS?
How do they do this? And here let me say, that when individuals resist the truth--when they resist its authority when it is presented to them--they have to make some apology for their conduct. The natural tendency of the truth, when it is presented to the mind, is to convince it--to beget a choice--to lead the individual to yield himself up to its influence. The mind and truth sustain such relations to each other, that the former is naturally and necessarily influenced by the latter; and, unless the individual resist the truth, its natural tendency is, as I have said, to lead the will into a state of obedience to it.
When persons harden their hearts, there must be some reason for their doing so. Take the case of the Jews,--the apostle called on them not to harden their hearts. He knew they were in danger in doing so. He knew their prejudices of education, their Jewish notions, and peculiar views of things. He knew the course they had taken with Christ previous to his crucifixion, and now he had been crucified, had risen from the dead, and was proclaimed to the world as a risen Saviour--he was writing this epistle to the Jews, and therefore reverts to a passage of their former national history. He calls their particular attention to it; and, when he had strongly fixed their minds upon the course their fathers pursued, and its results--knowing well to whom he was addressing himself, being well versed, as I have said, in the prejudices against Christ--knowing their self-righteous spirit, and that they were prepared to resist Christ--knowing all these things, he warns them solemnly not to harden their hearts. It is easy to see that they could assign themselves multitudes of reasons for resistance. He knew that they were in error--and in great error--on the subject of religion, and therefore he called on them not to harden themselves--not to betake themselves to their prejudices--not to fly to their Jewish errors and peculiar notions, and to strengthen themselves in opposition to the truth.
This leads me to say that persons are very much in danger of hardening themselves, by holding fast to some erroneous opinion or improper practice to which they are committed. All their prejudices are in favour of it, and they are very jealous lest anything should disturb it. They hold on to some particular error, and whenever they are pressed to yield to the claims of God, unless it is done in a peculiar way, so as to be consistent with their prejudices, they are apt to rise up and strengthen themselves against it. What danger such persons are in of assigning to themselves, as a reason for resisting the truth, that it clashes with some of their favorite notions! When they see its practical results contradict some pet theory of theirs, they will strengthen themselves against it.
I recollect an instance of this kind. One evening, in the city of New York, I found among the inquirers a very anxious lady, who was exceedingly convicted of her sins, and pressed her strongly to submit to God. "Ah," she said, "if I were sure I am in the right church, I would." "The right church!" said I, "I care not what church you are in, if you will only submit yourself to Christ." "But," she replied, "I am not in the Catholic Church, I am not in the right church; if I were, I would yield." So that her anxiety about the "right church" prevented her yielding at all, and she continued to harden her heart against Christ. This is often the case whether persons are Catholics, or whatever they are; when pressed strongly to submit, they flee to some prejudice, and immediately hide themselves behind it; and although they cannot deny the truth of what they resist, still there is some error or prejudice to which they betake themselves by way of present resistance to the truth that is pressing their consciences.
Others harden themselves by indulging in a spirit of procrastination. "I will follow thee," is their language, "but not now." They say, "I intend to be religious," but when God presses them to yield, they are not quite ready. They say, "This is not exactly the time," assigning to themselves some reason for present delay in order to harden themselves. They have something, perhaps, in hand, which must be attended to first. Do let me ask you, now, how many times some of you, when thus pressed to yield at once to Christ, have urged some such reason as this for your delay?
Why are you not Christians? Is it because your attention has never been called to the subject? Is it because you never intend to be Christians? No! Well, what is the matter with you? How is it that you have always succeeded in assigning to yourself a reason for a present delay? One time, you have one reason, at another, another; and you have, in fact, as many reasons as occasions, and they come up whenever you have been pressed immediately to surrender your heart to God. Now, I ask you if this is not true? I ask you if you do not know that it is true, as well as you know that you exist?
I remark again, that many persons strengthen themselves and harden their hearts by refusing, wherever they can refuse, to be convicted of their sins. They have a multitude of ways of avoiding the point, and force away the truth, and hardening themselves against it. Take care, for instance, of the practice of excusing sin. The veriest sinner in the world will make some excuse for what he is doing; and at least it suffices to satisfy himself. It is exceedingly difficult to convince a man against his will; it is remarkable to see how a man will evade conviction. Go to the slaveholder, for instance, and how many excuses he will make! How many things he will conjure up! Sometimes he will even flee to the Bible to defend himself; at other times, he will excuse himself by saying that he knows not what to do with his slaves--that the laws of his State forbid him to emancipate them. You may press him on every point--you may reason with him again and again, but all to no purpose. Men often excuse and defend their sins in this way; and sometimes they actually deny that they are sins at all, when they come to be pressed to give them up; but the apologies they make are such as God will never receive, although they suffice, at present, to delude themselves.
But again: Another way in which men harden themselves is, that they are unwilling to come and do what is implied in becoming Christians. They reason thus within themselves:--"I must give up such and such things, if I become a Christian I must do thus and thus." They consider that they must make a profession of religion, and that, therefore, the eyes of the world will be thenceforth upon them; they see that they must consequently be careful how they conduct themselves. They cannot go to such and such places of amusement; they must discontinue such and such things they have been in the habit of doing, and which are now so dear to them. This is how they reason; they begin to count the cost. But a short time since, I was pressing an individual to yield up certain forms of sin of which I knew him to be guilty. "Ah," said he, "if I begin to yield this and that, where will it all end? I must be consistent," said he, "and where shall I stop?" Where should he "stop?" It was clear that the cost was too great, and that he was therefore disposed to harden himself and resist God's claims, because he considered God required too much. If he were going to become a Christian, he knew that, to do his duty, he must give up sin as sin, and that it would cost him the sacrifice of his many idols. This is a very common practice. If you ask persons, in a general way, they are willing to be Christians; but "what will be expected of them?" Ah! that is quite a different thing! If you tell them what it really is to be a Christian, that is quite another thing. Now you have set them to count the cost, and they find it will involve too great a sacrifice. They are wholly unwilling to renounce themselves and their idols; and accordingly they betake themselves to hardening their hearts, and strengthening themselves in unbelief.
I will cite the case just referred to for a moment. The conversation respected, at that time, a particular form of sin. Now, why did he not yield at once? Why did he not instantly say, "I will give it up. I know it is wrong and inconsistent with love to God, and I will therefore renounce it." But instead of this, he saw that the principle on which he yielded this point would compel him to give up others; and, therefore, he said, "if I begin this, where shall I stop?" He gathered up all the reasons he could, and strengthened himself in his position. Thus he was hardening his heart; this was just what the Jews did when Christ preached.
Thus it is men perceive that it will call upon them to humble themselves before God, and make restitution where they have been fraudulent in their dealings; they see that to become Christians, implies that they undo, as far as it lies in their power, the wrong they may have committed, and become honest men. They see that multitudes of things are implied in listening to the voice of God, and becoming followers of Jesus Christ, and this causes them to surround themselves with considerations to sustain them in their unbelief and resistance to the authority of God. I might mention a great many other particulars under this head; I shall not, however, at present, do so, but in a few words show,
III. WHY MEN SHOULD NOT HARDEN THEIR HEARTS IN THIS WAY.
Perhaps the first thing that I shall notice will startle some of you. It is this; you should not harden your hearts, "because, if you do not do so, you will be converted."
I have already said, that truth is so related to the mind, and the mind to truth, that when the mind perceives truth, with its practical bearing, this relation acts as a powerful impulse to the mind, tending strongly to induce it to yield and conform; it is a natural stimulus to the mind, prompting it to act in a given direction. To be sure, it can be resisted; and it is this resistance that God exhorts you to avoid you are to let the truth take effect.
You recollect, perhaps, some of you, that the apostle says--I believe it is in the Epistle to the Romans--however, in the particular passage to which I was going to refer, God denounces those who restrain the truth, and go on in unrighteousness; that is, those who hold it back, and prevent it from influencing their mind. This is the way the heart is hardened, by refusing to yield to the truth, withholding the mind from going out in obedience to it.
Now observe, beloved, that if the truth is but yielded to, this is conversion itself. Conversion is the act of the mind in turning from error, selfishness, and sin, and yielding to the claims, and obeying the commands of the Almighty. This is conversion.
Now, as I said, the natural tendency of the truth is to stimulate the mind to embrace and obey it. God has so constituted the mind, that, as everybody knows, truth is a most powerful stimulant, which invites and draws the mind in a given direction. Truth induces it to act in conformity with its dictates. Now, to do this, to obey the truth, that is conversion. If you do not obey it, it is because you harden yourself against it, and resist its influences; for it is an utter impossibility to be indifferent to the presentation of truth, and especially is it utterly impossible to maintain a blank indifference to the presentation of the great practical truths of Christianity. They are not mere abstractions, in which the mind sees no practical bearing, but they are realities of such a nature that the mind must either resist them or suffer them to guide it.
The apostle knew that if they did not harden themselves, they must surely be converted.
Another reason why you should not harden your hearts, is, that you will not be converted if you do. In other words, if you resist the Spirit, God never forces you against your will. If he cannot persuade you to embrace the truth, he cannot save you by a physical act of omnipotence, as, for instance, he could create a world. You are a free moral agent, and he can save you only in his own way. In other words, if he cannot gain your own consent to be saved in his own way, he cannot possibly save you at all. If you wish him to save you by moving your will, as I would move this lamp--[Mr. Finney here moved the branch of one of the pulpit lamps to and fro]--I say, if he is to save you as I move this lamp, he will not do it. It is not a physical operation that can make you willing; that is not the way in which the will is controlled. He must have your consent; and when he sends his ministers to reason with you,--when his Spirit strives with you,--he strives to gain your free consent; hence he says, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." If conversion were a mere act of the physical omnipotence of God, he would not exhort you not to harden your hearts; for how could you harden your hearts against, and resist a physical almightiness?
Men who have this conception scoff at the idea of the sinner's hardening himself against God. Persons who talk thus, of course, assume, that conversion does consist in an act of omnipotence; they seem unable to comprehend that conversion consists in God's securing your own consent, and that is all. Did you ever consider this, dying sinner? Did you ever reflect on the fact, that all that is necessary, is, to give your consent to be saved? You fancy you are willing; but the fact is, that your obstinacy is the only real difficulty to be overcome--to get you to yield yourself up to God's claims. It is easy for you to see, that if you harden your heart, and surround yourself with prejudices, gather all your energies up to resist,--if you do this, it is easy for you to see that you can only expect to remain unconverted--to live, and die, and perish in your sins! While you harden yourself, it is impossible that you should be converted, for conversion is the very opposite of this resistance--it is the yielding yourself up: [to] the claims of God.
Another reason why you should not harden your hearts, is, that you may be given up! God may give you up to the hardness of your hearts. The Bible shows that this is not uncommon. Whole generations of the Jews were thus given up. You may be, and there is considerable danger; the same God of mercy that now governs the world gave up whole generations in that comparatively dark generation; and if so, what reason have we to suppose that he will not do so with you? God, under the Gospel, is not more merciful than he was under the law--he is the same God. Some think there is not so much danger of this now; but the fact is, there is more, because there is more light. He gives them up because they resist the light of the truth with regard to his claims. I beg of you to consider this.
IV. WE SHALL INQUIRE, WHOSE "VOICE" IS HERE REFERRED TO?
Is it the voice of a tyrant, who comes out with his omnipotent arm to crush you? "If you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Whose voice is it? In the first place, it is the voice of God; but, more than this, it is the voice of your Father! But is it the voice of your Father, with the rod of correction pursuing you, to subdue you by force? Oh, no! it is the voice of his mercy--of his deepest compassion. Hear what he says: "Ephraim, my dear son; Ephraim, my pleasant child;" for although he spake against him, yet did he "earnestly remember him still." Like a father who has almost made up his mind to abandon a disobedient and cruel child, whose misconduct he could not endure, and whom he found it impossible to reform. All the father works up in him at the remembrance of that child; the parental heart yearned over him. "I have spoken against him, yet do I earnestly remember him still."
Just so God addresses you. He "earnestly remembers" you. He offers to forgive you. He says, "after so long a time." How long a time? How old are you? How many long years has God waited for you? Just number them up--some of you, perhaps, eighteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty. How many years have you refused to hear the voice of your Father, your Saviour; the voice of mercy, the voice of invitation, the voice of promise, the voice of expostulation, and even of entreaty? By his providence, the work of the Spirit, the words of the inspired volume, the ministrations of his servants--in how many ways has this voice reached you? And now he says, "after so long a time!"
A few further remarks must close what I have to say; and the first remark is this: persons often mistake the true nature of hardness of heart. Supposing it to be involuntary, they lament it as a misfortune, rather than regret it as a crime. They suppose that the state of apathy which results from the resistance of their will, is hardness of heart. It is true that the mind apologises to itself for resistance to the claims of God, and, as a natural consequence, there is very little feeling in the mind, because it is under the necessity of making such a use of its powers as to cause great destitution of feeling. This is hardening the heart--that act of the mind in resisting the claims of God. For persons to excuse themselves by complaining that their hearts are hard, is only to add insult to injury. They resist God's claims, and then complain of the hardness this resistance induces; they harden themselves in the ways we have stated, rendering themselves obstinate against God, and then they complain of the results of their own actions. Now, is this the way?
I remark, once more, it is worthy of notice that the claims, commands, promises, and invitations of God are all in the present tense. Turn to the Bible, and from end to end you will find it is, "To-day" if ye will hear his voice. "Now" is the accepted time. God says nothing of to-morrow; he does not even guarantee that we shall live till then. It is "to-day," after so long a time, harden not your hearts."
Again: The plea of inability is one of the most paltry, abusive, and blasphemous of all. What! Are men not able to refrain from hardening themselves? I have already said, and you all know, that it is the nature of truth to influence the mind when it receives it; and when the Spirit does convert a man, it is by so presenting the truth as to gain his consent. Now, if there was not something in the truth itself adapted to influence the mind, he might continue to present the truth for ever, without your ever being converted. It is because there is an adaptedness in truth--something in the very nature of it, which tends to influence the mind of man. Now, when persons complain of their inability to embrace the truth, what an infinite mistake! God approaches with offers of mercy, and with the cup of salvation in his hand, saying, "Sinner! I am coming! Beware not to harden yourself. Do not cavil. Do not hide behind professors of religion. Do not procrastinate! for I am coming to win you."
Now, what does the sinner do? Why, he falls to hardening his heart, procrastinating, making all manner of excuses, and pleading his inability. Inability! What! Is not a man able to refrain from surrounding himself with considerations which make him stubborn? Is he not able to come from this soul-destroying business of hardening himself? Oh! sinner, you are able; that is not the difficulty.
Once more: I said this is a most abusive way of treating God. Why, just think. Here is God endeavouring to gain the sinner's consent--to what? Not be sent to hell. Oh, no! he is not trying to persuade you so to harden yourself as to consent to lie down in everlasting sorrow. Oh, no! he is not trying to persuade you to do anything, or to consent to anything, that will injure you. Oh, no! he is not trying to persuade you to give up anything that is really good--the relinquishment of which will make you wretched or unhappy--to give up all joy, and everything that is pleasant--to give up things that tend to peace--he is not endeavouring to persuade you to do any such thing as this. With regard to all such things, he is not only willing that you should have them, but would bring you into a state in which you could really enjoy them. He cries out, "Sinner! do thyself no harm!" He is trying to prevent you from injuring yourself, and not endeavouring to play off any game upon you which will interfere with your well-being or happiness; he is trying to prevent your ruining yourselves, and trying to consent to be blessed. Will it hurt you to give up your sins? God sent Christ to turn you away from those courses which, by a natural law, must prove your ruin. What is it, then, that God wishes you to do?
What is that sweet voice which falls so sweetly from heaven? it should melt all stubbornness down. It is the voice of his infinite compassion and love. Oh, sinner, destroy not thine own soul! Flee not from the Saviour who has come to save you! Harden not yourself against the offered mercy; and, now that the cross of salvation is passed around from lip to lip, do not push it away! What are you doing? Is God come to injure you? If he had come in wrath, he would not care whether you hardened your heart or not. O sinner! if you place him in such a relation that his infinite heart is obliged to make the sacrifice, when he enters into judgment, he will not tell you not to harden yourself. Then you may harden yourself if you can. He says, "Can thy heart be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee?" Oh, no! But now it is different. Now he comes and sweetly tries to win you--he comes as a friend, as a father, as a Saviour! spreading out his broad arms of love to embosom you every one, drawing you so near to his great, gushing heart as to thrill its tides of eternal love through all your being. Oh! will you resist? What! "after so long a time!" Oh! sinner, is it not infinitely inexcusable? Shall he fail to get your consent? Then, when you sit before him in solemn judgment, and the universe shall all be gathered together, he will publish the fact of how, after he tried to spread out his broad, beneficent arms of love over you--how, after he tried to gather you under the wings of his protection--but ye would not! He could not gain your consent! What! shall it be told of any of you in the solemn judgment that God could not possibly gain your consent to the only terms on which he could possibly save you? Ah! when he shakes his skirts, as it were, and exclaims, "I am clear of thy blood!" what will you say?
Again, he will have the eternal consolation of knowing that he has taken all the pains to get you to consent that he wisely could take. You will be obliged to say, "The fault was my own, and I have been an infinite fool! I have resisted the claims of Christ, hardened myself against his dying love, and cast away my soul!" Sinners! how many times have you been invited? Can you remember? How many times have you seen the Lord's Table spread? Are you prepared to partake of the elements now about to be spread--the solemn avowal of your attachment to Christ? How many times, I ask again, have you been invited? Have you not had enough of sin? How much more do you want? Let me ask you another question--how much longer would you like to live in your sins? How many years have you already devoted to them? Do you think God ought to allow you to enjoy a little more sin? Suppose he, personally, put the questions, "Do you think I ought to allow you to live any longer in your sins? Do you think I ought to let you live to remain in rebellion any longer!" Suppose he should say, "Unless I fan your heaving lungs in sleep to-night you will be lost. Unless I keep you, you will lie down in hell before the morning. Now, do you think I ought to keep you alive to sin against me another day? Do you think that when you lie down in your sins, I ought to watch over you, and see that you do not die; and that Satan does not steal away your soul, and drag you down to the depths of hell?" Dare you look the Eternal in the face and say, "Yes, Lord." Dare you say, "I think I ought to be indulged a little longer, and not be hurried in this way?" No, indeed! You know you are without excuse. You could only say that you are "infinitely to blame," and you are in infinite danger if you do not to-night cease to sin, and yield yourself up.
[Mr. Finney, after a short prayer, dismissed the congregation, while the church remained to celebrate the Lord's Supper; however, seeing that between three and four hundred persons kept their seats, as "spectators," in the spacious galleries, Mr. Finney, after the administration of the ordinance by the pastor (the Rev. Dr. Campbell), again addressed the assembly.]
Christ has invited you to "do this in remembrance" of him. Whose business is this? Is it your only, or mine only; or is it equally incumbent on both? Did Christ die for you, and not for me? or for me, and not for you? or did he give himself up for us all? Surely it is the duty of all to "do this" for whom Christ died. Did he tell you to "do this," and you have really never done it? How is this? I want to know why you have never done it? Is it because you are not a Christian? Why are you not? When Dr. Campbell (the pastor of the church) announced that the communicants would seat themselves below, while the spectators would retire to the gallery--Spectators! non-communicants!" said I to myself; "who are these non-communicants? Are there, then, those of Adam's race for whom Christ has not died? Are there those who will thus openly acknowledge that they have "[']no part or lot in the matter?'" Suppose, now, that Christ actually had died only for a part of mankind, and you knew that it had no more reference to you non-communicants in the gallery than to the fallen angels! If you knew this, why, of course, I should expect to see you non-communicants; for why should you celebrate his death if his blood was not shed for you? You might then absent yourselves with some reason.
But, if this were the case, how could you sit round that gallery and look on? Now, do take this view of the matter, and consider it for a moment.
But Christ says, "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters of life--come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,"--"Come unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth." Suppose, then, that the cup were handed round to you--would you say, "Oh! I am not prepared; I am not a Christian?" Why are you not? You shut yourself out by your own consent.
"Not prepared!" You are neglecting Christ, and hardening your hearts against him--that is the reason you are "not prepared."
"Not prepared!" Just think of it! Who is it that requests you to "do this?" It is a friend--a dying friend--a friend dying in your stead. What does he say? He says, "I am just going to offer up my life for you: break this bread, pour out this wine, and partake of them in remembrance of me--partake ye all of it, and when you do so, remember my struggle, my groans, my agony, and death." Will you obey this dying injunction? Why, then, do you thus turn your backs upon it?
Suppose that a mortal should do you a similar favour? Suppose a fellow-creature should bleed and die in your stead, and in the agony of death should take a ring from his finger, and say--"Here, dear friend, take this, wear it, look at it, and as often as you do so, remember me!" How would you regard this love-token presented in the hour of nature's final struggle? Would you throw the ring lightly away? Suppose any one should say--"Give me that ring;" or, "How much will you take for it?" How much would you take for it? why you would sooner part with your heart's blood than lose it; and if they inquired why you so prized it, you would tell them your simple story, and assure them that nothing could induce you to part with it.
Now, think of this! Yet when Christ made an effort to save you from endless death, by suffering himself, how indifferent you are! Was it a mere ring? No! He took bread and brake it, saying, "This is my body which was broken for you;" he took wine and poured out, saying, "This is my blood which was shed for you, do this in remembrance of me." Who is to "do this?" Why, all of you; seeing that for all of you his blood was shed.
But practically you say, "I will not do this," and turn your back on the ordinance. What must angels think, when they see a number of persons for whom Christ died, and to whom he said, "Do this in remembrance of me," but who will not do it? If there can be amazement in heaven, surely this would cause it.
Now, will you ever neglect it again? I recollect an instance of an individual present at a season like this, when the question came up about his long neglect, when he was so impressed by the consideration of the sin and danger of his position, that he resolved on the spot, that he would never voluntarily neglect it again. At the next communion he was there, and could rejoice in the resolution he had taken, to drawn near that great heart of love. After that he was always one of the first at the table.
What do you say to-night? Now think of this when you lay your head on your pillow to night. Can you say, "Lord, this night have I rejected thee publicly before the whole congregation." Try to go to sleep, but say first, "Lord, do not let me die to-night, I have just come away from thy table and refused to acknowledge thee, and do not let me go to hell to-night."
Would you not blush to talk thus? would you not rather say, "O my God! I have to-night rejected Jesus, and how dare I sleep in my sins? This night, Lord, I in my heart give thee a solemn pledge, that, by thy grace, I will never turn my back on that ordinance again. It shall never be said of me (by thy grace), that I am not prepared. I will remember thee; and in the presence of heaven and earth, I will manifest my gratitude to thee from this time." Oh! let it be written in heaven!
Yep, 1850 was a long time ago and preachers sure did preach a long time in those days.
I personally believe one thing that can help "un-harden" our hearts is to look at the pain instead of ignoring it. What's hurting your heart? What's keeping it hard? What makes you and I so stubborn and "hardhearted"? What can we do to soften our hearts?
What makes our hearts hard? What blocks our heart? And if possible, how can we unblock it?
Is it fear? Is it pain? Is it hurt? What if owning the hurts would help soften our hearts?
What hurts? The hurts we've done and the one's which have been done to us.
I believe that HURTS THAT HURT OUR HEARTS COULD HELP US IF WE'D ACKNOWLEDGE THEM.
What do you think?
Remember: As we think in our hearts so are we.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Pro Choice vs Pro Life
When I was very very young back in my fetus days I was thinking about how safe and secure I was. I had everything I needed and wanted--food, shelter, warm water bed, and that soothing "thump thump, thump thump..."
If it was up to me I guess I could have stayed there forever. But then after about nine months this bright light drew me toward it and out I popped and something wacked me on the butt until I cried. Mom said I looked black and she didn't want to touch me. (Wow! Physical, racial and psychological abuse in the first five seconds of life.)
Sixty-two years later as I sit here writing this blog I hear this "thump thump, thump thump..." and I'm looking for some light. I feel very uncomfortable and know what I write is going to offend somebody so I think I'll offend everybody--those both to "right" and "left" of me.
Why is it that the democrats and republican can't seem to agree on anything? Is it because they start with different assumptions? I know this is really tremendously over simplifing the matter but one believes "government is "for" the people" and the other believes that government is "of" the people". And what seems to get lost in the mix of all this is "the people".
Could that also be what get's in the way of "pro-lifers" and "pro-choicers"? Some how what gets lost in the mix is "the baby". My guess is if I told some of you what I personally believe about this "issue" you would be very up-set with me. In fact I think both sides of this "issue" would be up-set with me. And some could be even thinking: "Don, you are either for life or your not" or "You are either for choice or your not". You can't be for both. You can't have it both ways. And you know, you're right, I can't. So what can I do?
If I'm for choice a person chooses what she wants. If I'm for life she is forced to choose what I want, that is what someone else wants, not what she wants. Either way something dies--a baby or her right to choose.
What are we to do? No "win win", only lose win or win lose or lose lose." I control your choice and you lose it. Or I you win, then your choice and the baby's lose. Or you lose you freedom and the baby loses hers/his life.
We could pretend that a fetus isn't a living thing and then all three lose: choice, life and truth.
So what are we to do? What are you to do? Make a decision. Make a choice. Take a life or save a life. And then you live with that choice. And I will die for your right to do either.
Ok, now who else do I want to "provoke"? Well, I'll tell you right now I will also die for your right to be what you really think you are: be it gay or strait or both. Just like I will die for your right to be "republican" or "democrat" or neither.
If it was up to me I guess I could have stayed there forever. But then after about nine months this bright light drew me toward it and out I popped and something wacked me on the butt until I cried. Mom said I looked black and she didn't want to touch me. (Wow! Physical, racial and psychological abuse in the first five seconds of life.)
Sixty-two years later as I sit here writing this blog I hear this "thump thump, thump thump..." and I'm looking for some light. I feel very uncomfortable and know what I write is going to offend somebody so I think I'll offend everybody--those both to "right" and "left" of me.
Why is it that the democrats and republican can't seem to agree on anything? Is it because they start with different assumptions? I know this is really tremendously over simplifing the matter but one believes "government is "for" the people" and the other believes that government is "of" the people". And what seems to get lost in the mix of all this is "the people".
Could that also be what get's in the way of "pro-lifers" and "pro-choicers"? Some how what gets lost in the mix is "the baby". My guess is if I told some of you what I personally believe about this "issue" you would be very up-set with me. In fact I think both sides of this "issue" would be up-set with me. And some could be even thinking: "Don, you are either for life or your not" or "You are either for choice or your not". You can't be for both. You can't have it both ways. And you know, you're right, I can't. So what can I do?
If I'm for choice a person chooses what she wants. If I'm for life she is forced to choose what I want, that is what someone else wants, not what she wants. Either way something dies--a baby or her right to choose.
What are we to do? No "win win", only lose win or win lose or lose lose." I control your choice and you lose it. Or I you win, then your choice and the baby's lose. Or you lose you freedom and the baby loses hers/his life.
We could pretend that a fetus isn't a living thing and then all three lose: choice, life and truth.
So what are we to do? What are you to do? Make a decision. Make a choice. Take a life or save a life. And then you live with that choice. And I will die for your right to do either.
Ok, now who else do I want to "provoke"? Well, I'll tell you right now I will also die for your right to be what you really think you are: be it gay or strait or both. Just like I will die for your right to be "republican" or "democrat" or neither.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
"The Bible Yes--Jesus No"
What if we didn't have the "New Testament" scriptures? What if we didn't have Acts thru Revelation? What if we only had the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis thru Malachi)?
What if we could think outside the box and ask questions like: Who decided these "New Testament" Scriptures were inspired to begin with? Weren't they just a bunch of religionist who called themselves everything from "Holy Father" to "Reverend" to "Arch Bishops" to "Cardinals" to "Clergy" and who lorded themselves all over men which was exactly what Jesus told his disciples not to do?
Didn't Jesus say things like "call no man father on the earth" and don't be like those who rule over men, the one who will be the greatest among you will be the least...serve from a position of humility, sell all that you have, my kingdom is not of this world, the kingdom of God is within, not by force, when you are weak you will be strong and on and on and on?
So how did it come about that we "blindly follow blind guides" who decided to put the letters of Paul and Peter and James and John and Jude on the same level as Moses and the prophets and Solomon and like I said religion is man-made. Most if not all religions make rules in the of their god. Yeshua is spirit and any war which is fought is a spiritual one. Not about flesh and blood or a man centered book. His kingdom is not of this world. This world killed the prophets and the son and kills the followers of Light & The Way. God has no name because s/he/it is spirit. I do believe what I call the god took on the form of a human for about 40 years and showed those who want to see the essence of god. This being is who I call Yeshua whose name means Ya (god) is salvation. No physical war was ever fought in the name of Yeshua. He/She/It is Peace and Mercy and Grace. Yeshua is Shalom! d all those writers of those really ancient scriptures which Jesus quoted?
Who decided the "Canonicity" of what we call the "New Testament? Weren't they just humans just like you and me? Aren't they the same men who built a "Catholic" Church based on an authoritative political hierarchy modeled after the Roman Empire? Who says we need to be thankful for these first century letters?
Isn't most if not all of the division among believers in Jesus today based on the "interpretations" of these "Church Letters" and traditions of men? If I were satan wouldn't I want people to believe a book was "inspired of God" so men and women would believe more in the B.I.B.L.E. than in the Word become Flesh?
So what would happen if we didn't depend on "the Bible" for our salvation? What would happen if we only depended on Jesus' life, death, burial and resurrection for our salvation? What if we only depended on the One who died for us for our salvation? Did the "Bible" die for anyone or was it the Word which became flesh and lived for awhile among us that died for you and me?
Well isn't the New Testament how we come to believe in Jesus? Would we know of Jesus if it wasn't for the New Testament? How? Didn't the first believers depend on the oral teaching passed on from one believer to another as confirmed in what we call the Old Testament? Did believers for years, even centuries not even have the Book we call the New Testament? How were they saved if they could not read?
What would happen if all we had was the story of Jesus: Hear the Word of God from the One God who became flesh and died on a Roman Cross: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the (Heavenly) Father but by Me." "I and the Father are ONE?"
Who were these first "eye witnesses" of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?
Didn't Jesus once pray that we all be one, just as His Father and He are one? Didn't Jesus say "blessed are those who believe even though they haven't seen and yet trust the telling the good news of His story as told by those eyewitnesses?
If we only had the "changed lives of those first eyewitnesses testimony" passed on to those who believed their message" what would the followers of Jesus look like today?
Would the Kingdom of God look and act more like Jesus than the Christian Religion of today with over 500 different denominations? What if all believers served each other and treated each other the way Jesus said so the world would believe because we would be known by our love one for another?
What if the Way of Jesus was based not on a book of rules or principles but on the Life of the one who gave up Himself for us?
What if we really put our faith in Jesus instead of in the Bible? Wouldn't less people be saying "the Bible YES" and "Jesus NO"? What if...What if...What if...
And even if the New Testament is the inspired word of God, which I personally believe it is, what would it be like if we really believed more in the One who inspired it than in it? What would it be like if we really worshiped the God of the Bible instead of worshiping the Bible? What if the Bible was given by God for people and people were more important than Bible? What if Jesus was more important than the Bible?
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus bled and died for you and me. Not the Bible. Not a book. No, not even an inspired one. Only the Word Who became Flesh saves us.
The Bible, NO.
Jesus, YES.
JESUS.
What if we could think outside the box and ask questions like: Who decided these "New Testament" Scriptures were inspired to begin with? Weren't they just a bunch of religionist who called themselves everything from "Holy Father" to "Reverend" to "Arch Bishops" to "Cardinals" to "Clergy" and who lorded themselves all over men which was exactly what Jesus told his disciples not to do?
Didn't Jesus say things like "call no man father on the earth" and don't be like those who rule over men, the one who will be the greatest among you will be the least...serve from a position of humility, sell all that you have, my kingdom is not of this world, the kingdom of God is within, not by force, when you are weak you will be strong and on and on and on?
So how did it come about that we "blindly follow blind guides" who decided to put the letters of Paul and Peter and James and John and Jude on the same level as Moses and the prophets and Solomon and like I said religion is man-made. Most if not all religions make rules in the of their god. Yeshua is spirit and any war which is fought is a spiritual one. Not about flesh and blood or a man centered book. His kingdom is not of this world. This world killed the prophets and the son and kills the followers of Light & The Way. God has no name because s/he/it is spirit. I do believe what I call the god took on the form of a human for about 40 years and showed those who want to see the essence of god. This being is who I call Yeshua whose name means Ya (god) is salvation. No physical war was ever fought in the name of Yeshua. He/She/It is Peace and Mercy and Grace. Yeshua is Shalom! d all those writers of those really ancient scriptures which Jesus quoted?
Who decided the "Canonicity" of what we call the "New Testament? Weren't they just humans just like you and me? Aren't they the same men who built a "Catholic" Church based on an authoritative political hierarchy modeled after the Roman Empire? Who says we need to be thankful for these first century letters?
Isn't most if not all of the division among believers in Jesus today based on the "interpretations" of these "Church Letters" and traditions of men? If I were satan wouldn't I want people to believe a book was "inspired of God" so men and women would believe more in the B.I.B.L.E. than in the Word become Flesh?
So what would happen if we didn't depend on "the Bible" for our salvation? What would happen if we only depended on Jesus' life, death, burial and resurrection for our salvation? What if we only depended on the One who died for us for our salvation? Did the "Bible" die for anyone or was it the Word which became flesh and lived for awhile among us that died for you and me?
Well isn't the New Testament how we come to believe in Jesus? Would we know of Jesus if it wasn't for the New Testament? How? Didn't the first believers depend on the oral teaching passed on from one believer to another as confirmed in what we call the Old Testament? Did believers for years, even centuries not even have the Book we call the New Testament? How were they saved if they could not read?
What would happen if all we had was the story of Jesus: Hear the Word of God from the One God who became flesh and died on a Roman Cross: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the (Heavenly) Father but by Me." "I and the Father are ONE?"
Who were these first "eye witnesses" of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?
Didn't Jesus once pray that we all be one, just as His Father and He are one? Didn't Jesus say "blessed are those who believe even though they haven't seen and yet trust the telling the good news of His story as told by those eyewitnesses?
If we only had the "changed lives of those first eyewitnesses testimony" passed on to those who believed their message" what would the followers of Jesus look like today?
Would the Kingdom of God look and act more like Jesus than the Christian Religion of today with over 500 different denominations? What if all believers served each other and treated each other the way Jesus said so the world would believe because we would be known by our love one for another?
What if the Way of Jesus was based not on a book of rules or principles but on the Life of the one who gave up Himself for us?
What if we really put our faith in Jesus instead of in the Bible? Wouldn't less people be saying "the Bible YES" and "Jesus NO"? What if...What if...What if...
And even if the New Testament is the inspired word of God, which I personally believe it is, what would it be like if we really believed more in the One who inspired it than in it? What would it be like if we really worshiped the God of the Bible instead of worshiping the Bible? What if the Bible was given by God for people and people were more important than Bible? What if Jesus was more important than the Bible?
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus bled and died for you and me. Not the Bible. Not a book. No, not even an inspired one. Only the Word Who became Flesh saves us.
The Bible, NO.
Jesus, YES.
JESUS.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
"OLD"
You've heard it said that you're only as old as you think. Well what if you don't think you know what "old" is? That wise guy Solomon said "As you think in your heart, so are you."
That Solomon might have thought it was cool to have a bazillion wives, etc. But that sure got him in trouble. I get in trouble with having one wife and Carolyn is wonderful and has put up with me for going on 39 years. Wow. Old...that's old.
In 1971, when we got married on Carolyn's Dad’s birthday, I really don't think I had a clue as to what real love was. I was pretty sure what "lust" was and "friendship" was and "selfishness" was. But love, not a clue did I have. (Now I'm sounding like Yoda.) Marrying Carolyn was very close to the wisest thing I've ever done in my life, second only to committing my life to Jesus.
Old. It may seem like we're old, yet only to those who are the age we were when we got married. Remember us "baby-boomers" didn't trust anyone over thirty. Yet to people in their 70's, 80's and 90's I'm sure we seem very young.
Old is a word. A label. It means nothing unless we give it meaning. Like commitment and love and forgiveness. Just words. Put them in a context and they can mean everything: OLD. God is Old. God is love. God is forgiveness.
Old cheese; old wine; oldie moldy; old fart--what my daughter Sara lovingly calls me, partly because her mother hates that "f" word.
Well, I feel old and I'm grateful to feel old. And I think in my heart that I want to grow older with that beautiful person who committed her heart to me on November 5, 1971. Old. Old. Old. Would you commit your heart to be OLD with me?
Happy Valentine's Day from this OLD F..T.
That Solomon might have thought it was cool to have a bazillion wives, etc. But that sure got him in trouble. I get in trouble with having one wife and Carolyn is wonderful and has put up with me for going on 39 years. Wow. Old...that's old.
In 1971, when we got married on Carolyn's Dad’s birthday, I really don't think I had a clue as to what real love was. I was pretty sure what "lust" was and "friendship" was and "selfishness" was. But love, not a clue did I have. (Now I'm sounding like Yoda.) Marrying Carolyn was very close to the wisest thing I've ever done in my life, second only to committing my life to Jesus.
Old. It may seem like we're old, yet only to those who are the age we were when we got married. Remember us "baby-boomers" didn't trust anyone over thirty. Yet to people in their 70's, 80's and 90's I'm sure we seem very young.
Old is a word. A label. It means nothing unless we give it meaning. Like commitment and love and forgiveness. Just words. Put them in a context and they can mean everything: OLD. God is Old. God is love. God is forgiveness.
Old cheese; old wine; oldie moldy; old fart--what my daughter Sara lovingly calls me, partly because her mother hates that "f" word.
Well, I feel old and I'm grateful to feel old. And I think in my heart that I want to grow older with that beautiful person who committed her heart to me on November 5, 1971. Old. Old. Old. Would you commit your heart to be OLD with me?
Happy Valentine's Day from this OLD F..T.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Does God Trust in YOU? Or "How Do You and I Define Love?"
So what is this thing we call trust? In most if not all relationships it is the foundation. If there isn't trust it is really hard to move on. We might like someone or even "love" someone, yet if there is not trust, what do you do?
The one definition of trust which I like best was written by a mentor and friend of mine, Darald Hanusa:
"Trust is the feeling of comfort that comes from knowing that another person will look out for our best interest, no matter what."
It may be interesting to know that Dr. Hanusa is a cognitive, behavioral psychologist and that part of his life work has been working with men whose pattern of life has been abusive and controlling (selfish) behaviors and facilitating their change to men whose behaviors are assertive and caring (empathic).
How do you or I learn to "trust" someone who has been hurtful and harmful? How do you or I get a feeling of comfort from a person who has in the past hurt me or has not "looked out for my best interest"?
The short but not easy answer is learning to trust again because that person has changed their behaviors from demanding and forcing to behaviors of asking and allowing me to be me, no matter what--even if I say NO.
Trust is a primary feeling of knowing in my heart that you no longer want to hurt me to get your way. Not an easy task. How does one gain your trust or if lost, how do you get it back?
"Thoughts of your mind have made you what you are, and thoughts of your mind will make you what you become from this day forward." (Catherine Ponder)
"As we think in our hearts, so are we." (King Solomon)***
Let me illustrate with this story.
When I was a little boy I slept on the bottom bunk and my brother was on top. My big brother, who I literally looked up to use to tell me: "Donny, at night there are alligators under the bed and if you get out of bed they will get you and eat you." I believed my brother. I trusted him. And I cried because I had to go pea. I wet my bed. And my big brother would call me a baby for wetting myself. I eventually would get up and go pea in the toilet and I wouldn't get eaten--not by alligators anyway.
I learned not to believe or trust my big brother. For most of my childhood I did not trust my big brother. Now I trust my big brother with my life. I learned to feel trust in the feeling of knowing he would look out for me, no matter what.
Once when we were kids and swimming in some lake in Texas I was going down for "the third time" and brother Bill held me up till the lifeguard got to me. Once I shot him in the mouth with a BB-gun and he pulled the BB out of his mouth and laughed. Once when I was in Viet Nam and my best friend Earl died Bill wrote me and said I would always have a place to stay with him when I got back to the "World". Once I did stay with him and his wife for several months, several transmissions and several .... well I won’t say of what. Through it all, my big brother Bill acted in such a way that I no longer feared him, I trusted in my heart that he was looking out for my best interest.
Who do you trust? (Wasn't that an old TV show?)
Who do you trust--really?
Do you "trust in God" or "trust your spouse" or "trust your boss" or "trust your children" or do you even "trust yourself"? It's on our Money: "In God we Trust". I wonder on God's money does it read "Trust in People"?
Trust is a "two way street" and it takes both "knowing that another is and will look out for our best interest, no matter what".
Whether you are the "truster" or the "trustee" it is a feeling of comfort that comes from knowing, really knowing that the best interest of the other is the goal. The goal is not what I want or even what the other wants; it's what is best for the other-- --NO MATTER WHAT.
For this reason God so "had the best interest" of the world in mind that He gave his one and Only Son to die so that WHOSOEVER TRUSTS IN HIM may not perish, but have everlasting Life.
Do you trust that? Do you trust that God was willing to die for you? God trusts that you will.
*** Note: "As thou thinketh in thy heart so are ye" by Dr. Harold Sala
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7, NKJV
Some 3000 years ago the wise man—perhaps Solomon himself—said it so well: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”Simply put, you become what you think—negatively or positively. Your thinking shapes your attitude, and your attitude is like the wood carver’s tool that molds you into the image you become.
A 27-year-long medical study documented what the writer of Proverbs observed a long time ago. Dr. John Barefoot of the Duke University Medical Center and author of the study says that people who are depressed, lack motivation, and generally feel hopeless, have far greater health problems than those who are positive and upbeat.
Furthermore, he says that individuals who think negatively of themselves and others have a 70 percent higher risk of heart attack and a 60 percent greater chance of premature death than those who are generally positive. (“Mood Affects Your Health” Family Circle, November 1996, p. 58).
He would agree with the words of Proverbs 23:7 in the Bible that says “as you think in your heart, so are you.” OK, what’s new? Solomon knew that 3,000 years ago, but now we’ve documented it. Dr. John Barefoot believes that you just can’t afford to worry, and if you find yourself feeling “blue” for more than a couple of weeks, you need professional help.
The study also revealed something important, something that the thousands of letters which have come to me over the years bear out. When you have a relationship with God—“religious involvement” is what the study called it—you have a more positive mental attitude, and your attitude determines your altitude: whether you get above your problems or sink lower and lower.
The study shows that when people live with “bad feelings” their negative attitude tends to lead to excessive smoking, drinking, food binges, and dangerous activities which only feed the downward spiral.
What does a God-connection have to do with your attitude? Plenty.
The one definition of trust which I like best was written by a mentor and friend of mine, Darald Hanusa:
"Trust is the feeling of comfort that comes from knowing that another person will look out for our best interest, no matter what."
It may be interesting to know that Dr. Hanusa is a cognitive, behavioral psychologist and that part of his life work has been working with men whose pattern of life has been abusive and controlling (selfish) behaviors and facilitating their change to men whose behaviors are assertive and caring (empathic).
How do you or I learn to "trust" someone who has been hurtful and harmful? How do you or I get a feeling of comfort from a person who has in the past hurt me or has not "looked out for my best interest"?
The short but not easy answer is learning to trust again because that person has changed their behaviors from demanding and forcing to behaviors of asking and allowing me to be me, no matter what--even if I say NO.
Trust is a primary feeling of knowing in my heart that you no longer want to hurt me to get your way. Not an easy task. How does one gain your trust or if lost, how do you get it back?
"Thoughts of your mind have made you what you are, and thoughts of your mind will make you what you become from this day forward." (Catherine Ponder)
"As we think in our hearts, so are we." (King Solomon)***
Let me illustrate with this story.
When I was a little boy I slept on the bottom bunk and my brother was on top. My big brother, who I literally looked up to use to tell me: "Donny, at night there are alligators under the bed and if you get out of bed they will get you and eat you." I believed my brother. I trusted him. And I cried because I had to go pea. I wet my bed. And my big brother would call me a baby for wetting myself. I eventually would get up and go pea in the toilet and I wouldn't get eaten--not by alligators anyway.
I learned not to believe or trust my big brother. For most of my childhood I did not trust my big brother. Now I trust my big brother with my life. I learned to feel trust in the feeling of knowing he would look out for me, no matter what.
Once when we were kids and swimming in some lake in Texas I was going down for "the third time" and brother Bill held me up till the lifeguard got to me. Once I shot him in the mouth with a BB-gun and he pulled the BB out of his mouth and laughed. Once when I was in Viet Nam and my best friend Earl died Bill wrote me and said I would always have a place to stay with him when I got back to the "World". Once I did stay with him and his wife for several months, several transmissions and several .... well I won’t say of what. Through it all, my big brother Bill acted in such a way that I no longer feared him, I trusted in my heart that he was looking out for my best interest.
Who do you trust? (Wasn't that an old TV show?)
Who do you trust--really?
Do you "trust in God" or "trust your spouse" or "trust your boss" or "trust your children" or do you even "trust yourself"? It's on our Money: "In God we Trust". I wonder on God's money does it read "Trust in People"?
Trust is a "two way street" and it takes both "knowing that another is and will look out for our best interest, no matter what".
Whether you are the "truster" or the "trustee" it is a feeling of comfort that comes from knowing, really knowing that the best interest of the other is the goal. The goal is not what I want or even what the other wants; it's what is best for the other-- --NO MATTER WHAT.
For this reason God so "had the best interest" of the world in mind that He gave his one and Only Son to die so that WHOSOEVER TRUSTS IN HIM may not perish, but have everlasting Life.
Do you trust that? Do you trust that God was willing to die for you? God trusts that you will.
*** Note: "As thou thinketh in thy heart so are ye" by Dr. Harold Sala
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7, NKJV
Some 3000 years ago the wise man—perhaps Solomon himself—said it so well: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”Simply put, you become what you think—negatively or positively. Your thinking shapes your attitude, and your attitude is like the wood carver’s tool that molds you into the image you become.
A 27-year-long medical study documented what the writer of Proverbs observed a long time ago. Dr. John Barefoot of the Duke University Medical Center and author of the study says that people who are depressed, lack motivation, and generally feel hopeless, have far greater health problems than those who are positive and upbeat.
Furthermore, he says that individuals who think negatively of themselves and others have a 70 percent higher risk of heart attack and a 60 percent greater chance of premature death than those who are generally positive. (“Mood Affects Your Health” Family Circle, November 1996, p. 58).
He would agree with the words of Proverbs 23:7 in the Bible that says “as you think in your heart, so are you.” OK, what’s new? Solomon knew that 3,000 years ago, but now we’ve documented it. Dr. John Barefoot believes that you just can’t afford to worry, and if you find yourself feeling “blue” for more than a couple of weeks, you need professional help.
The study also revealed something important, something that the thousands of letters which have come to me over the years bear out. When you have a relationship with God—“religious involvement” is what the study called it—you have a more positive mental attitude, and your attitude determines your altitude: whether you get above your problems or sink lower and lower.
The study shows that when people live with “bad feelings” their negative attitude tends to lead to excessive smoking, drinking, food binges, and dangerous activities which only feed the downward spiral.
What does a God-connection have to do with your attitude? Plenty.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Doobee or Not Doobee: That is THE Question--or is it?
Ok, here it is as promised. I said whatever I wrote was going to offend some people even though I promise you it is not my intention.
Whatever you thought I was going to write about tells you more about yourself than it does me. Just like what you get from reading the Bible lets you know a whole lot more about where you are coming from than what really might have been the intension of the original writers.
What ever you may have thought about what I meant by "Doobee", I promise you I was not advocating doing something illegal, even if you think it's a stupid law.
In my younger days I had the opportunity to be influenced by THC on more than one occasion. It's pretty amazing to see "flares" floating down over Hill 360, which rose above the DaNang airport, when under the influence of a mind altering chemical.
Viet Nam claimed the blood of hundreds of thousands of young men and women including my best friend, Earl Carl Edwin Tidwell, Jr. Earl's name is now on "the Wall" in Washington D.C. with all those other names. What do they mean, really?
They mean what ever you want them to mean. As Catherine Ponder wrote: "Thoughts of your mind have made you what you are and thoughts of your mind will make you whatever you become from this day forward."
Something is only an issue if you decide to make it one. What's your most important issue? Really.
Are you sad? Are you afraid? Are you full of guilt or shame? You want to be happy?
"Happiness and Joy are states of the mind in the heart of our soul.
Decide to be happy especially at the times you don't feel like it. Try not to blame your behaviors or your feelings on others, they belong to you and you alone.
And last but not least: Joy spelled backwards is yoJ."
Isn't it?
Whatever you thought I was going to write about tells you more about yourself than it does me. Just like what you get from reading the Bible lets you know a whole lot more about where you are coming from than what really might have been the intension of the original writers.
What ever you may have thought about what I meant by "Doobee", I promise you I was not advocating doing something illegal, even if you think it's a stupid law.
In my younger days I had the opportunity to be influenced by THC on more than one occasion. It's pretty amazing to see "flares" floating down over Hill 360, which rose above the DaNang airport, when under the influence of a mind altering chemical.
Viet Nam claimed the blood of hundreds of thousands of young men and women including my best friend, Earl Carl Edwin Tidwell, Jr. Earl's name is now on "the Wall" in Washington D.C. with all those other names. What do they mean, really?
They mean what ever you want them to mean. As Catherine Ponder wrote: "Thoughts of your mind have made you what you are and thoughts of your mind will make you whatever you become from this day forward."
Something is only an issue if you decide to make it one. What's your most important issue? Really.
Are you sad? Are you afraid? Are you full of guilt or shame? You want to be happy?
"Happiness and Joy are states of the mind in the heart of our soul.
Decide to be happy especially at the times you don't feel like it. Try not to blame your behaviors or your feelings on others, they belong to you and you alone.
And last but not least: Joy spelled backwards is yoJ."
I just wrote the above quote on my facebook page tonight. :)
So, what does "Doobee" mean to you?
Whatever you need it to mean. That really is THE question.
Isn't it?
(Unless you're color blind and you're unable to see the THE.)
Saturday, January 09, 2010
So, What the Heck is "Counseling" Anyway?
I was talking to our amazing minister, Gary Cleveland, the other day and we were talking about our respective "callings": his to preaching and mine to counseling. Some people come to our "Barn Church" and sometimes they may be a little taken back because it doesn't meet their pre-conceived perceptions about "Church". We are a bit "relaxed" at the Oakhaven Church in Oshkosh to say the least. I believe we are still reverent and all those "religious sounding words" and stuff. Yet we are fairly informal and laid back at times--ok, all the time. Yet when we sing together as a church I think the angels listen in.
I don't know if you have ever heard congregational, accapella singing before, and if not, it's hard to beat when all four part harmonies are kickin' in. And then a bunch of guys--definitely "non-clergy" types get up serve communion and share their gifts of teaching, praying and inspiring. And even once in awhile a woman will get up and lead the prayer or read the Bible or do the "announcements" (I wish they also helped in serving communion and blessing us with sermons--but that's just me, and the Lord's still working on some of our old patriarchal ways at the Barn. To me the neatest part of our "assembly time" together is when each and anyone--male, female, child, and visitor--take part in our family prayer time. Then our Minister, Gary, gets up and sits down--he sits on an old stool and shares from his heart what he and the Lord have been preparing all week for us to hear. Gary's "sermons" are real, down-home (sometimes way down home, "Alabama homespun"). Even though he's been up here in Wisconsin since 1976 every once in awhile that good ole boy drawl will come out with a "Goddah" or other "Bama-postulants" or "pontificates".
So what the heck does all this have to do with counseling, anyway? Well, just as people sometimes have pre-conceived perceptions of "Church" and "Worship" we also do the same with "Counseling". All kinds of different visions or phobias of "laying on a couch" or having to share "how do you really FEEL about that" or being psychoanalyzed or taking weird tests and on and on and on. So what is counseling about--really?
Well, personally I don't even like the word "counseling" or to be called a counselor. I use to do a lot of that stuff I wrote about in paragraphs above just like I use to do a lot of "weird stuff" when I was a preacher boy years ago. Oh yeah I'm guilty of it all: death bed invitations, fire and brimstone scare the hell out of folks and syllogisms--silly gezims. Yeah I was trained to use guilt and shame and fear to get people all worked up to "come forward" at the end of the sermon. "Would you all please stand together as we sing "I Will Not Be Moved" or "Why the Heck Not Tonight" (that's when we 'had to go' to night church on Sundays). Lot's of things I once thought or believed as "gospel" had nothing to do with Jesus and a lot to do with religion.
So really, what happens in a counseling session? Well, it's a little like the old joke "How many counselors does it take to change a light-bulb?" Just one, but the light-bulb has to REALLY WANT to change!" I now do what I do a lot differently than I was taught in college just like when I "preach" once in awhile (and they don't let me often--probably a good thing). Just like I REALLY DO try now NOT to use a bunch of "religious" words when I speak--I also try to avoid as much as possible using "counseling" words. Maybe it because for the last 10 years I've been doing mostly group work with a bunch of men who really don't want to be in a room with a bunch of other men who really don't want to be there. I facilitate domestic violence groups which last 44 weeks. The process is taking "abusive, demanding, controlling" men, to "assertive, asking gentle-men". Well, some of them change anyway--like the old joke--those who really want to change.
Instead of thinking of myself as a counselor or a therapist, I'd prefer to think about myself as an advocate And I don't have "clients" or "patients" or "crazies"; I prefer to think of them as "life-connecting-partners". We're all on a journey together, helping each other find our way. That word "advocate" is a really interesting word. In the Bible it is often used of the work of the Holy Spirit. (Jesus said: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have told you." When He the "advocate" comes, He will guide you into all truth..." And the apostle John even used the word in in 1 John referring to Jesus: "My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the one who is righteous."
What the word advocate literally means is: "one who walks along side of you" and that is how I view the facilitating I do. I walk along the side of my "fellow travelers" on “The Road Less Traveled". I'd prefer to think of myself as one who reminds us of "stuff we really already know" and I facilitate the process of remembering and reminding and asking.
Sometimes we need to remember some of the hurts that have happened to us or which we have done ourselves. Then it's a matter of talking about them--thinking about them--and deciding how me really want to feel and act in a way that is benifincial to ourselves and to others. That's what I see as being my goal--walking along side of you as you figure out what you need to do to take care of yourself without hurting anyone, including yourself.
And I believe it's ok to have fun on this journey. Oh sure sometimes it may get a bit "heavy" and that's why there is someone there to help carry the load--and I'm not talking just about me--that other Advocate who really knows what He's doing is there traveling with us. And neither you nor I could do the work we need to do if God isn't present.
So, I hope this helps a bit when you think about counseling. It really is about making the right connections in this life and I believe also in the next life as well. Jesus said:
Mat 11:28 "Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Place my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light."
It's scary sometimes because of the way we think about it. If we can learn to "think about it differently" it will become less scary and more restful.
Check out the Website: http://www.lifeconnectionsinc.com and see and hear the new stuff I've added. This website, like our lives, is a continual work in process--one step at a time.
"Shalom"
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Justifed Because of Whose We Are, Not Because of What We Did
As we begin this new year of this new decade of this twenty first century, I would like to reflect on--not the past year. I'd like to reflect on beginning again on this first Sunday of the year of our Lord twenty-ten.
Sunday is a day of beginnings. The beginning of that which celebrates the first day of the "Sabbath Week". Sunday was the first day after God rested from all His creation week work. Believers in Jesus celebrate this day as the day the Son of God rose from the dead after being crucified three days earlier. The writer of the Roman letter said in chapter 4:25 that Jesus died for our sins and he rose for our justification.
Justification is a very interesting word. Look it up in the dictionary.
Justification may refer to:
Just doesn't seem right does it? It's not. We all deserve "justice" which is a "eye for an eye" and a "death for death" for certainly we killed him and yet he cries out from the cross: "Abba, Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing." He did not ask the Father to forgive what we were doing, He asked Him to forgive us inspite of what we were doing.
We had a really amazing Bible class at the Barn Church this morning. We talked about the "unforgivable sin".
Well I can tell you one thing that isn't unforgivable: our killing Jesus. He gave his life for us so that we can be forgiven and live.
Now there's a LIFE CONNECTION for you; in fact I believe it is THE LIFE CONNECTION.
So on this first Sunday of the this first full week of the decade twenty-ten, let's begin again to let all things be brand new: JUSTIFIED. Not because of what we do, as my friend Gary Cleavland says, because of what Jesus did and does with every breath that comes out of Mouth of God.
Note:
I have some brand new videos on the website: how 'bout checkin' em out? Go to each page and enjoy some terrific video's and songs I just added courteous of "UTUBE".
Sunday is a day of beginnings. The beginning of that which celebrates the first day of the "Sabbath Week". Sunday was the first day after God rested from all His creation week work. Believers in Jesus celebrate this day as the day the Son of God rose from the dead after being crucified three days earlier. The writer of the Roman letter said in chapter 4:25 that Jesus died for our sins and he rose for our justification.
Justification is a very interesting word. Look it up in the dictionary.
Justification may refer to:
- Theory of justification, a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs
- Justification (jurisprudence), defense in a prosecution for a criminal offense
- Justification (theology), God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before God
- Justification (typesetting), a type of typographic alignment
- Rationalization (psychology), one of the defense mechanisms proposed by Sigmund Freud ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, It could be used a word of denial or for the exact opposite--making all things "right" or new. My favorite seen in Mel Gibson's movie "the Passion of the Christ" is when Jesus spots his mother as he is carrying his cross to Calvary's 'hill of the skull" and says to her: "Behold your Son as he makes all things new".
Just doesn't seem right does it? It's not. We all deserve "justice" which is a "eye for an eye" and a "death for death" for certainly we killed him and yet he cries out from the cross: "Abba, Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing." He did not ask the Father to forgive what we were doing, He asked Him to forgive us inspite of what we were doing.
We had a really amazing Bible class at the Barn Church this morning. We talked about the "unforgivable sin".
Well I can tell you one thing that isn't unforgivable: our killing Jesus. He gave his life for us so that we can be forgiven and live.
Now there's a LIFE CONNECTION for you; in fact I believe it is THE LIFE CONNECTION.
So on this first Sunday of the this first full week of the decade twenty-ten, let's begin again to let all things be brand new: JUSTIFIED. Not because of what we do, as my friend Gary Cleavland says, because of what Jesus did and does with every breath that comes out of Mouth of God.
Note:
I have some brand new videos on the website: how 'bout checkin' em out? Go to each page and enjoy some terrific video's and songs I just added courteous of "UTUBE".
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
May The SON'S Love Shine on Us All in 2010...
Please would you copy this link below and see where it lead you?
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs043.snc3/13069_102528313098902_100000252016427_63638_5240883_n.jpg
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs043.snc3/13069_102528313098902_100000252016427_63638_5240883_n.jpg
Monday, December 28, 2009
Asking for what you need...Really!
ASK and you shall receive, SEEK and you will find, KNOCK and the door will be opened to you.
What an amazing statement Jesus made in in what is sometimes called the "Sermon on the Mount". I 've often asked God for what I thought I needed or for what I wanted. How do you ask for what you really need?
My suggestion to you is "often". Lately my wife Carolyn and I are waiting at least three days before be buy what we think we need. After the third day we often realize we don't really "need" what ever it is and don't buy it. It gives us time to look at "the big picture" and I know our God really knows the "big picture" from the beginning of time to the end of time.
Jesus is said to have prayed three times for His Father to "remove the cup" he had been given: to die for our sins. Three times. Then he said, "not my will but Your will be done". This is a prayer I believe he prayed every day, "Abba in Heaven, holy is Your Name, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN..."'
How do we know what the Father's will is--REALLY? Jesus said if we ask, really believing, really out of faith, it "SHALL BE GIVEN TO YOU". Wow. The Father's will seems to have to do with "Loving your neighbor as you love yourself". How much do you love yourself? Would you give your life for your neighbor?
Jesus did.
I had a duck when I was a little boy growing up in the Mojave desert in California. One day I was playing with that duck and I by accident sat on it and killed it. I prayed and prayed that God would not let that duck die. Well it died. It was one really dead duck. I felt so sad and I cried and cried. Why didn't God answer my prayer? I really believed he would raise up that duck. Did not God hear my prayer? I think so, So it seems sometimes God's answer is 'NO' even when we pray in faith. It must not have been His "will" that that duck lives. So what did seven year old Donny learn by all this? Ducks die when you sit on them. And if God doesn't think it's best that that duck comes back to life, it wont.
So why even bother? It's not our will be done, it's God's will be done "on Earth as it is in Heaven".
I love Garth Brooks' song, "Thank God for Unanswered Prayer". It seems that part of what it means when we ask in faith, is trusting that God will do what's best, even if we don't like it.
I asked God to provide for the ministry of Life Connections. I really believe He is and He will. How and if he does this is really up to Him. I also ask you to pray with me that "God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day what we really need..."
That seems really worth asking for, don't you think?
What an amazing statement Jesus made in in what is sometimes called the "Sermon on the Mount". I 've often asked God for what I thought I needed or for what I wanted. How do you ask for what you really need?
My suggestion to you is "often". Lately my wife Carolyn and I are waiting at least three days before be buy what we think we need. After the third day we often realize we don't really "need" what ever it is and don't buy it. It gives us time to look at "the big picture" and I know our God really knows the "big picture" from the beginning of time to the end of time.
Jesus is said to have prayed three times for His Father to "remove the cup" he had been given: to die for our sins. Three times. Then he said, "not my will but Your will be done". This is a prayer I believe he prayed every day, "Abba in Heaven, holy is Your Name, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN..."'
How do we know what the Father's will is--REALLY? Jesus said if we ask, really believing, really out of faith, it "SHALL BE GIVEN TO YOU". Wow. The Father's will seems to have to do with "Loving your neighbor as you love yourself". How much do you love yourself? Would you give your life for your neighbor?
Jesus did.
I had a duck when I was a little boy growing up in the Mojave desert in California. One day I was playing with that duck and I by accident sat on it and killed it. I prayed and prayed that God would not let that duck die. Well it died. It was one really dead duck. I felt so sad and I cried and cried. Why didn't God answer my prayer? I really believed he would raise up that duck. Did not God hear my prayer? I think so, So it seems sometimes God's answer is 'NO' even when we pray in faith. It must not have been His "will" that that duck lives. So what did seven year old Donny learn by all this? Ducks die when you sit on them. And if God doesn't think it's best that that duck comes back to life, it wont.
So why even bother? It's not our will be done, it's God's will be done "on Earth as it is in Heaven".
I love Garth Brooks' song, "Thank God for Unanswered Prayer". It seems that part of what it means when we ask in faith, is trusting that God will do what's best, even if we don't like it.
I asked God to provide for the ministry of Life Connections. I really believe He is and He will. How and if he does this is really up to Him. I also ask you to pray with me that "God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day what we really need..."
That seems really worth asking for, don't you think?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Friendship
On this earth I believe God gives us many gifts, number one being the gift of his Son, Jesua. Then there are childhood friends like Earl, best friends like Al and Kathy, bestest friends like Carolyn and last of all special adult friends like Jen who are angels in disguise.
Once upon a time in a land not so very far away there once lived a fairy princess who one day would be queen. She was given a gift by the Gift Giver. Like all gifts of this special type, this one could only be given once to whomever she chose to bestow it. "Bestow" is a gift giving word. A gift has no real meaning until it is bestowed--given away. No strings, no wings and no seems or dreams, a gift must be. She decided to give her gift to an old dried up worm of a man who least deserved it, yet had only one good quality: broken-ness. So when old worm man was offered the gift he bowed his head in submission to her will and simply said "thank you." Worm man was instantly changed into who he had been forever destined to become: Connection Man.
As the new year approaches I would ask us all one extremely important question: "Who are you connected to--Really? The answer to this question can not only change the way we think about ourselves, also the way we think about others and ultimately the way we think about the Giver of Life who offers His Friendship to all.
Friday, December 18, 2009
"Happy Birthday Jesua, Happy Birthday Christman"
I was wondering the other day while I was driving down the highway: Just how did Mary and Joseph celebrate their firstborn son's birthday. What was that first "he's one year old" birthday party like in their home? Did they realize that Jesua was 'one year old plus infinity'? How did Jesua's earthly parents remember "the first Noel"?
What feelings came to them as they thought back to Jesua's first night on this earth?
Well what do you think of when you think about your first born child's birth: The water breaking; the call to the doctor; the rush to the hospital; or the calling of the midwife; the "miracle of his/her birth"; checking out the fingers and toes; the call to parents and family and friends and on and on and on?
Ok, now add a few other details to their story: the inablity to find a place to stay that first night in Bethleham; the labor pains increasing; finally a place--even if it was "a hole in the wall" old stable; and finally the birth of their first born son; remembering what the angel had said, "and you shall call him 'Jesua' for he shall save his people"; the shepherds showing up; their story of the Heavenly announcement and on and on and on.
Ok that's all the physical stuff going on. Now let's go deeper. Now can you just imagine the "spirit world" stuff: the Father looking down on His 'first and only begotten son'; the knowledge that the 'eternal had become flesh' just a momentary nine months earlier; now living carnal fetus: "Imanuel-God with us"; the proud Father who had "spoken the Word into Living Flesh" knowing also in that instance it was now "the beginning of the end." I can only imagine and I wonder: 'what was the Father thinking--REALLY': "What if My Son chooses His will over Mine, after all He is human now as well being part of Me?" (Kind of blows the mind doesn't it?)
What was going on in the spirit world that " Ole Holy Night"? The angels rejoicing--at least the host of the heavenly angels. What about the other "host of fallen angels" led by their "father Lucifer", what's going on with the outcasts? We get just a glimpse from the Apocolypse of John (see Revelation chapter 12) as the dragon tries to devour the Son of the woman. What amazing spiritual battles occur as they think "ok, you're in our territory now baby" and all the Forces of Hell clash with all the Heavenly Forces of Life. Now there's a "Real Life Connection" for you!
How do Jewish parents remember the birth of their first born? Goggle it and you will be amazed: "The first born son of a Jewish family". Well maybe that's "another blog story" and for now would you sing with me:
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday dear Jesua,
Happy Birthday to You."
How old are You,
How old are You,
You look like a Baby
And you smell like one Too.
What did infinity smell like on that first "Christman" morning? (No that wasn't a misprint.) The fresh aroma of all eternity given as all first fruits are given--in sacrifice back to the Giver of Life so that we might have "LIFE ETERNAL"
Wow!
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and Only Son, that whosoever belives in Him might not perish but have everlasting LIFE". (Would you read John 3:16ff?)
On this "Christ-man Eve" believe again or for the first time: "Jesus Loves me this I know because the Word of Life tells me so".
Merry Christ-man EVERYONE!
What feelings came to them as they thought back to Jesua's first night on this earth?
Well what do you think of when you think about your first born child's birth: The water breaking; the call to the doctor; the rush to the hospital; or the calling of the midwife; the "miracle of his/her birth"; checking out the fingers and toes; the call to parents and family and friends and on and on and on?
Ok, now add a few other details to their story: the inablity to find a place to stay that first night in Bethleham; the labor pains increasing; finally a place--even if it was "a hole in the wall" old stable; and finally the birth of their first born son; remembering what the angel had said, "and you shall call him 'Jesua' for he shall save his people"; the shepherds showing up; their story of the Heavenly announcement and on and on and on.
Ok that's all the physical stuff going on. Now let's go deeper. Now can you just imagine the "spirit world" stuff: the Father looking down on His 'first and only begotten son'; the knowledge that the 'eternal had become flesh' just a momentary nine months earlier; now living carnal fetus: "Imanuel-God with us"; the proud Father who had "spoken the Word into Living Flesh" knowing also in that instance it was now "the beginning of the end." I can only imagine and I wonder: 'what was the Father thinking--REALLY': "What if My Son chooses His will over Mine, after all He is human now as well being part of Me?" (Kind of blows the mind doesn't it?)
What was going on in the spirit world that " Ole Holy Night"? The angels rejoicing--at least the host of the heavenly angels. What about the other "host of fallen angels" led by their "father Lucifer", what's going on with the outcasts? We get just a glimpse from the Apocolypse of John (see Revelation chapter 12) as the dragon tries to devour the Son of the woman. What amazing spiritual battles occur as they think "ok, you're in our territory now baby" and all the Forces of Hell clash with all the Heavenly Forces of Life. Now there's a "Real Life Connection" for you!
How do Jewish parents remember the birth of their first born? Goggle it and you will be amazed: "The first born son of a Jewish family". Well maybe that's "another blog story" and for now would you sing with me:
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday dear Jesua,
Happy Birthday to You."
How old are You,
How old are You,
You look like a Baby
And you smell like one Too.
What did infinity smell like on that first "Christman" morning? (No that wasn't a misprint.) The fresh aroma of all eternity given as all first fruits are given--in sacrifice back to the Giver of Life so that we might have "LIFE ETERNAL"
Wow!
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and Only Son, that whosoever belives in Him might not perish but have everlasting LIFE". (Would you read John 3:16ff?)
On this "Christ-man Eve" believe again or for the first time: "Jesus Loves me this I know because the Word of Life tells me so".
Merry Christ-man EVERYONE!
Monday, December 14, 2009
A Jesus Sandwich
When I was a little kid I could eat PBJs three times a day. I loved them. They had to have butter and jelly and especially peanut butter--the chrunchy kind. I loved them then and I love them now. It just doesn't get any better than a PBJ Sandwich. I didn't like sharing my PBJs with anybody, espescially my big brother Bill. He was mean to me sometimes. But sometimes I had to. Sometimes he'd take the whole sandwich.
This life is like a PBJ sandwich. I never thought about it much, but the most important thing about a PBJ is the bread. It's what holds it all together. It's what gives you something to hold on to, otherwise it could get really messy. Imagine slapping a hunk of butter and jelley and chrunchy peanut butter on your hand and trying to eat it. Well, I don't have to imagaine it, I've tried it. The first time it was kind of fun, but it was a mess. And it just didn't taste the same. The bread is so important. You might like wheat or white or rye or whatever. As a kid I loved thick Wonder Bread--do they still sell Wonder Bread?
So what's a Jesus Sandwich? It's all the good and messy stuff in this life wrapped between two big slices of the Bread of Life. I call one slice "Peace" and the other "Joy". Or if you want to get real crazy make a "triple decker". That third slice is called "Love". And all the really great Jesus Sandwiches need to have a big slice of "Love", right?
Well enjoy your Jesus Sandwich everyday. And as hard as it is, cut it in half and share it with the people you come across who are the most hungry.
Especially share it with your "big brother" who calls you names and says other mean things to you. And if he/she takes the whole thing, make him another one. There just isn't anything better than a Jesus PBJ Sandwich.
This life is like a PBJ sandwich. I never thought about it much, but the most important thing about a PBJ is the bread. It's what holds it all together. It's what gives you something to hold on to, otherwise it could get really messy. Imagine slapping a hunk of butter and jelley and chrunchy peanut butter on your hand and trying to eat it. Well, I don't have to imagaine it, I've tried it. The first time it was kind of fun, but it was a mess. And it just didn't taste the same. The bread is so important. You might like wheat or white or rye or whatever. As a kid I loved thick Wonder Bread--do they still sell Wonder Bread?
So what's a Jesus Sandwich? It's all the good and messy stuff in this life wrapped between two big slices of the Bread of Life. I call one slice "Peace" and the other "Joy". Or if you want to get real crazy make a "triple decker". That third slice is called "Love". And all the really great Jesus Sandwiches need to have a big slice of "Love", right?
Well enjoy your Jesus Sandwich everyday. And as hard as it is, cut it in half and share it with the people you come across who are the most hungry.
Especially share it with your "big brother" who calls you names and says other mean things to you. And if he/she takes the whole thing, make him another one. There just isn't anything better than a Jesus PBJ Sandwich.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
My Father's Name is Art and he Lives in Heaven
When I was a little kid growing up in the Mojave desert in California, I remember those Sundays when the congregation prayed in unison "The Lord's Prayer". I didn't understand most of it but it's where I first learned that God's first name was "Art".
It was the only time I can remember when they used God's first name. I didn't know much about God but I knew where he lived and I new his first name. I don't remember this exactly, but I'm sure I once must have asked my Dad (whose name was Harry): "Daddy",(that's what my sisters Betty & Debi and brother Bill & I always called him), "Daddy, what's God's Last Name?"
Dad said, "Son (he always called me son) why do you think God has a last name?" I said, "well everyone's got a last name, what's Art's?" Dad said, "Whose Art?" "You know", I said, "that's God's first name, remember every Sunday when we pray together in church we all pray to our Father Art who is in heaven!"
Well Dad, somehow kept a straight face and without missing a beat, said: "Son, God's, ah Art's last name is Jehovah." I said , "well what do you know about that, Art Jehovah. Thanks Daddy." And with that question answered I went out to play "cowboys and Indians" or hunt for horney toads with my best friend Richie Snerlly.
I loved to talk to "Art" when I was a little kid. I'd be laying in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed (Bill always slept on top)and I'd talk and make up songs and sing them to my Heavenly Father, Art. After awhile I'd say well, I guess I better get to sleep, I'll let you go, I'm sure some other little boy is waiting to talk to you, too. Goodnight Art. Sleep tight. And I drifted off asleep safe and secure, wrapped in the arms of the invisible, only and all powerful Immanuel.
Well, some of the above story is true. And some is the imagination of the "little boy, Donny" who still lives deep inside of me.
So what's so important to me about this? Really? It's the unquestioning faith and trust I had in my earthly Dad, Harry and in my Heavenly Dad, Art. I didn't "know" a lot but I knew I was taken care of and nothing on this earth would hurt me--not even the big alligators my brother Bill said were under the bed.
I'm not sure how all little Jewish boys prayed. I am very convinced that when Jesus was a little boy he called his earthy and heavenly father by the same name: Abba which could very easily be translate, "Daddy". And I believe as he grew into the only human being who ever lived on this earth without sinning even one time, would daily pray:
My Daddy who is Heaven. How Holy is Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done
Here on earth as it has always been done in Heaven.
Would You please give me this day what I really need (bread--both physical and spiritual)?
Please forgive those who hurt me by sinning as I give my life for them.
And keep me from the evil one who tempts me every single chance he gets.
For Yours is the Kingdom (Eternal Rule) in my life.
Yours is the ultimate Power.
And Yours is the Glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Goodnight Daddy. I love You.
May this same all knowing and caring God wrap His loving arms around you and your family. Really.
It was the only time I can remember when they used God's first name. I didn't know much about God but I knew where he lived and I new his first name. I don't remember this exactly, but I'm sure I once must have asked my Dad (whose name was Harry): "Daddy",(that's what my sisters Betty & Debi and brother Bill & I always called him), "Daddy, what's God's Last Name?"
Dad said, "Son (he always called me son) why do you think God has a last name?" I said, "well everyone's got a last name, what's Art's?" Dad said, "Whose Art?" "You know", I said, "that's God's first name, remember every Sunday when we pray together in church we all pray to our Father Art who is in heaven!"
Well Dad, somehow kept a straight face and without missing a beat, said: "Son, God's, ah Art's last name is Jehovah." I said , "well what do you know about that, Art Jehovah. Thanks Daddy." And with that question answered I went out to play "cowboys and Indians" or hunt for horney toads with my best friend Richie Snerlly.
I loved to talk to "Art" when I was a little kid. I'd be laying in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed (Bill always slept on top)and I'd talk and make up songs and sing them to my Heavenly Father, Art. After awhile I'd say well, I guess I better get to sleep, I'll let you go, I'm sure some other little boy is waiting to talk to you, too. Goodnight Art. Sleep tight. And I drifted off asleep safe and secure, wrapped in the arms of the invisible, only and all powerful Immanuel.
Well, some of the above story is true. And some is the imagination of the "little boy, Donny" who still lives deep inside of me.
So what's so important to me about this? Really? It's the unquestioning faith and trust I had in my earthly Dad, Harry and in my Heavenly Dad, Art. I didn't "know" a lot but I knew I was taken care of and nothing on this earth would hurt me--not even the big alligators my brother Bill said were under the bed.
I'm not sure how all little Jewish boys prayed. I am very convinced that when Jesus was a little boy he called his earthy and heavenly father by the same name: Abba which could very easily be translate, "Daddy". And I believe as he grew into the only human being who ever lived on this earth without sinning even one time, would daily pray:
My Daddy who is Heaven. How Holy is Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done
Here on earth as it has always been done in Heaven.
Would You please give me this day what I really need (bread--both physical and spiritual)?
Please forgive those who hurt me by sinning as I give my life for them.
And keep me from the evil one who tempts me every single chance he gets.
For Yours is the Kingdom (Eternal Rule) in my life.
Yours is the ultimate Power.
And Yours is the Glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Goodnight Daddy. I love You.
May this same all knowing and caring God wrap His loving arms around you and your family. Really.
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