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HOW DO YOU KNOW
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HOW DO YOU KNOW

HOW DO YOU KNOW

I have listened to, watched on TV, blogged and much more as I have heard the words of people and clergy and various churches from so many different Christian denominations throughout many years over my time in life. I must be a Christian as I decided many years ago that I just could not pin down one group and say to myself “These folks are RIGHT ON”.

HOW DO I KNOW HOW GOD WILL REACT TO ME?

So on 8-04-02 , as the internet developed, I believed in UNORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY and established my own internet theology. It has grown tremendously as the questions developed from all over. Yes, NO, Maybe?

Initially I looked at my website and ran across a few readers until one day my website developed a surprise. Instead of a few readers the number overnight was 45,000 instead of 5 or 6 and the website was frozen. I had to move beyond my original hosting service and the site became a WordPress host. I still owned the original domain as well as a WordPress domain for Unorthodox-Christianity since I moved beyond my original host. In the last 20 plus years the whole discussion on the internet expanded into different versions of Unorthodox Christian whatever as well as what does Unorthodox mean?

As one listens more and more to a great variety of denominations building themselves over the internet the variety that started 20 plus years ago has become a thundering debate about what Christianity is about. I do not have the time or experience to cover the 45,000 denominations that are known about in the entire world. I can guess that there are many doorsteps that question and debate their own beliefs which go on and on to claim themselves THE RIGHT ONE.

“THE RIGHT ONE” idea developed immediately apart of the original message of GOD and the legends of the victories or the losers in a single culture over thousands of years. The stories and the debates have not existed in agreement since the beginning of the stories.

I have mentioned before the story of my question to my 2nd grade Methodist teacher in the fifties about how GOD dealt with people. She asked if anyone was questioning how GOD dealt with people. I raised my hand. “What Dennis” she asked.

“Why didn’t GOD just make good people?” I asked. It seemed like a logical question to me. History was just too full of war and death and it did not seem to be getting any better as we went on and on with war. As I got older in the 50’s and 60’s no one could answer my question? FREE WILL was the answer I got most of the time.

In the original book that many churches handed out to their children when they graduated from Sunday School (and the still do, throughout the world) the book I received started with Genesis 1 when GOD explained in verse 1 – 26 GOD said: “Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves”.

And then in verse 27: “GOD created man in the image of himself, in the image of GOD he created him and female he created them”.

I guess that is what UNORTHODOX may have been meant to mean.

Today there are many versions of Orthodox Christians. Most tell different stories and different legends. And there were wars and there were winners and losers. There are pages of excuses as to why and where “Like us” went away, or “Us” was different than what we know of GOD.

The story of Jesus developed lots of debates in the corners of his conversations. I have come to be very simple about GOD and Jesus. Father, Son, all in ONE, it makes no difference to UNORTHODOX. The message has been simple and strait forward,

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU.

That is my story of UNORTHODOX in it’s simplicity.  The NEW TESTAMENT can exist with these few words of peace and one more.

FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.

AND FROM UNORTHODOX:

HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW GOD WILL TREAT HIS CHILDREN MADE IN HIS OWN IMAGE?

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

A DAY OFF?
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A DAY OFF?

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING ALL

Trying to get back to Weds off. No need to rush, so I pick something to rush about. On the computer with “what about this or what about that”. Long rest or short rest. Fill up the Brita (Water purifier) full or still ok. Walk the dogs or “They’re OK for a while longer”. Just what to do today? Start new or start later. I am sooo confused. I should think nap, or maybe total gym? Throw paper up, then one has to pick paper up. Why do people retire anyway? There are always things to do. I guess that days off are way too time consuming for a guy like me. Have a wonderful day and stay safe. Have to get the dogs their sweaters on and the insulated coats. Wind chill is -12. Life. It is a never ending story. Know that OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU. “A nap you say?” Hmmmmm.

ME, Mack and Jake

MEMORIES — 1-19-22
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MEMORIES — 1-19-22

GOOD MORNING ALL
Today I keep my joy, joy, joy joy deep in my heart, deep in my heart today.
The world is surrounded by joyful music.
Whether it is freezing cold​ or summer heat, a smile comes to mind when the thought process comes to remind me of special days, events, people, friends and the dogs. When it is 9 degrees I remember knocking on doors and shouting Happy Halloween in Minnesota. When it is 90 degrees I remember jumping in a swimming pool in Billings Montana. Joy can not hide inside and life can not frown when memories are remembered. Remembering life isn’t buried in sadness, it is people I laughed with, people who made me smile. It is music that brings them back to life.
Life is a journey of challenges, and of gifts and do you remember when. I have had more smiles than frowns. I have had more opportunities than not. Enjoy the memories. When I sit down to write these little tidbits I think Thank You. Have a wonderful time despite the weather, grief, loss, or tears. Life is an adventure. Life is filled with memories. It is a time of throwing stones across a pond, and a time of gathering them up. (Eccesiasties- 3 vs 5).  OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALWAYS.
ME, Mack and Jake
WHAT DO YOU MEAN “IF”
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WHAT DO YOU MEAN “IF”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN “IF”     

From Mark 9: 23……

Jesus heard an argument that was going on in a crowd. “What are you arguing about”, Jesus asked. A man answered from the crowd. He said “Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were unable to”.

“You faithless generation”, Jesus said in reply. “How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me”. They brought the boy to him, and as soon as the spirit saw Jesus it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father “How long has this been happening to him?” “From childhood,” he replied, “and it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us”.

“What do you mean, ‘If you can ?” retorted Jesus. “Anything is possible for anyone who has faith”.

Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do have faith. Help the little faith I have!” When Jesus saw how many people were pressing around him, he rebuked the unclean spirit. “Deaf and dumb spirit,” Jesus said, “I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.” Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions it came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said “He is dead”. But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up and he was able to stand. When Jesus had gone indoors his disciples asked him privately , “Why were we unable to cast it out?” “This is the kind,” Jesus answered, “that can only be driven out by prayer”.

What do you mean “If” you can? Have you asked JESUS “If you can”? Has life thrown you a curve and you have tried everything else and nothing is working for you.

Often JESUS is the last resort for help. Many times we blame Jesus when something goes wrong in life.

We are like the young boy who told the pastor that he was never going to go to church again because Jesus did not answer his prayer when his grandmother had passed away.

The Pastor asked the young boy what had he asked of Jesus. “To make Grandma better. That she would have no pain”. The young boy asked.

“Where is Grandma now”; asked the Pastor.

“Heaven?” the boy asked.

“Yes” said the Pastor. “And she is not in any pain. And she never will be in pain ever again and Jesus did just what you asked”.

Jesus was known through the crowds of his day as a great healer. Many brought friends, relatives, and themselves to Jesus to heal them. The stories just like this one above happened daily, Many times a day. How many times have you gone to Jesus in prayer and asked Jesus “If you can, Jesus”; heal mom, or dad, or the pet dog or find the family cat”. You watch the news and a car accident takes someone you know or someone in common. Someone in church or down the street. Your best friend, your love. “IF YOU CAN, JESUS”.

“Help the little faith I have!”

More often than not we have this discussion with Jesus, IF YOU CAN? long before we ever discuss life with JESUS as our savior or our friend. Long before we even take the opportunity to get to know Jesus. Many have a hard enough time believing in JESUS period. Let alone believe in JESUS enough to believe that He can.

Can Jesus? Nice stories, nice movies, but come on, Faith?

“Why were we unable to cast out the unclean spirit?” asked the Disciples. “This is the kind that can only be driven out by prayer” Jesus replied. And Prayer is a learned function of life. It doesn’t just crop up because it is Tuesday. Take time to ask Jesus how things are going. Listen to the answers. It took you years to develop a best friend. Ask Jesus just what had to be done to make that best friend happen. Then LISTEN.

“What Do You Mean “IF” you can. What do you mean IF you believe in ME. What do you mean “Help the little faith I have!”

 Jesus asks as much of US as we ask of Him.

“What do you mean, “IF”.    “Please Help the little faith I have!”

Jesus CAN, If Jesus Knows. Start your conversation today.

NEW EXPECTATIONS 2-14-21
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NEW EXPECTATIONS 2-14-21

NEW Expectations

It is Sunday Morning. A pretty traditional Church day for me. It is on the internet thanks to the pandemic. Before the Internet it was called Church and Family day. There isn’t Church at the building day. The pre-pandemic church day started with a coffee and rolls get together. One then went to the sanctuary for the Message and when done we all went to our favorite Sunday lunch or brunch day.

I got up today and felt lost. The world is changing. What are my expectations when the word PRAYER comes up? What do I plan on doing with that prayer box when I take it off the shelf and remind myself that my faith has a home of sorts. Unorthodox Christianity? My conversation with GOD is centered around something called prayer. When Jesus talked to the disciples it was conversation. When someone wanted healing for a friend or family member, or a neighbor one sought out Jesus to be the healer. A miracle now and then. But this is me, this is now. My prayer box has expectations that come with it. The social club doesn’t need me. What is the purpose of Unorthodox Christianity?

Every day I pray. It may be a breakfast prayer or a dinner prayer. I may have received a special prayer to pray for a member of a church family, a co-worker, it may be a TV prayer as the messenger for any or all of the thousands that have had to confront the Pandemic. I may have a family member challenged by cancer or covid, or health issues whose name surprises me. It may come as an obituary to tell me I am getting older.

It may be for someone whose name I do not know or recognize. We all get the message somehow. For someone. For some purpose. What is it all about?

The world has many tribes. Groups of people who believe alike, in something. There are groups who profess non-belief. Who do they pray to, from whom do they request a loving heart and caring thought?

There are Bibles, there are Sutra’s, there are classes on religion and thousands of churches with billions of believers, believing in something. There are judges to judge right and there are judges to judge wrongs. Who do you pray for, and who do you pray to. You ask for forgiveness and for absolution. I think I admit my wrongs, and I ask for peace.

I may speak in tongues. I ask in long messages or short messages. I have many names for GOD and which Name must I use for which prayer? There are billions of prayers every moment. I ask myself, what do I expect from the prayer? What do I expect GOD to say? What do I expect GOD to do in response. What if I disagree? Will my prayer take precedence over someone elses? Is my prayer honest enough? Is it correct enough? What do I expect from it?

Is my prayer Politically correct enough? Will others who hear my prayer agree with me or not? What if their prayer challenges mine, or disagrees with what I was taught the prayer should be about. Is my prayer like a snowball rolling down a hillside getting bigger as it goes? Does my prayer find me shaking my head back and forth wondering if GOD agrees with me, or not? Are my prayers realistic or are they unrealistic. Do they truly have meaning, or wishes or desires. Are they lost in a cavern of thousands of years ago that sounds like “this person or “That” person wrote it down. Have the conversations become fragments of great thoughts, or confusion?

Just what am I trying to accomplish during my prayer time?

On and on and on. I may take hours and say nothing meaningful, I could be wasting GOD’s time. Is GOD on my side? What do I want to take away from my prayer? Do I want peace, do I want to WIN? What is it I am praying for? Do I want the temperature to be warm for a few days or `below zero’. Is such a prayer frivolous?

Now that I have written a bunch of stuff down, what do I do with it?

I have expectations, don’t I. Do I have any power to have it My Way? Do I even know what my way is? How would GOD hear my prayer? How would GOD accept it or answer it. What are my prayer Expectations?

I want to listen first and pray second. GOD has ways of talking to me when I have questions. Does GOD disagree? Maybe. Does GOD want you to say something specific to come from you? Do you agree?

The conversation you have with GOD is the beginning of your teaching and the door that GOD will open. It is between you and GOD. The challenge is to seek out your answers. Not someone else’s. You have already set your own challenge. That challenge becomes your expectation. Listen to your questions, listen for GOD’s answers.

Life is very much like an old saying, walk a mile in another mans shoes. Your expectations should include your learning. You have to ask to learn. The conversation you begin will last a lifetime. And we call it LIVING. And it starts with expectations.

The internet has created all kinds of questions and presents all kinds of answers. When you punch up Unorthodox Christianity on the Internet what do you expect to find? What sort of a question do you have to answer? The questions and the answers lie within you. They lie within conversations that you may have long forgotten, pictures you may have drawn, music you may have sung. If you are lost will you become found? You and GOD can discover the found. Your Expectations become your challenges. Your challenges become your answers. Your answers become your journey.

Life is meant for living, take your faith off of the shelf.

THE MOST IMPORTANT
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THE MOST IMPORTANT

THE MOST IMPORTANT

Who is the most important?

Years ago I was attending a seminar on how to be a successful person. The were a number of speakers that told their personal stories of success. They were successful sales people, entrepreneurs, manufacturers of items, sports people and such. There were successful, “How to be a Successful Speaker” people. It lasted a full day and at the end we listeners were presented with a lobby full of cd’s to purchase, books to purchase, T shirts to purchase, mugs and all kinds of paraphernalia to purchase to learn about how to be successful. They told their stories about how they built their businesses up from the ground up. They told their stories about how hard their success ventures were accomplished and how much they did and how high up the ladder they climbed to be a wealthy, successful and truly important person that they had become. I was somewhat impressed, so to speak. In the midst of the speakers was one speaker who was a military pilot who was shot down on the wrong side of the enemy and worked his way back to safety. He very much impressed me by one thing he, and only he, of all the speakers said. “GOD encouraged me every step of the way”.

All the others attributed their success to some form of me. I did this. I accomplished this. I worked so hard, I was the secret of my success.

I have thought about that many times over the years. And every time I think of it I am reminded of an incident that happened to me years before that seminar.

I was doing my job as a vendor salesman for a large product company in a Western Minnesota store. I was having one of those “Another day” days. I was doing my job setting up one of our displays and resetting our shelf space when a customer, an older gentleman, came up to me and asked what I was doing. I mentioned, “Me, oh I’m just a salesperson doing my job. No one important, just a salesman.”

He shook his head and responded in all sincerity: “Just a salesperson? You are THE MOST IMPORTANT person in your company. Without you doing what your doing the company would not need anyone to do anything and your company would go out of business. The delivery people, the secretaries, managers, the bosses and the owners would not have jobs. No sir, you are not just a salesperson, you are THE MOST IMPORTANT person in your company”. I was completely caught off guard. For the lack of what to say at his response I said “Thank you. I appreciate it”. I smiled and turned back to my job. In the time it will take you to read this section I felt I should thank him some more and looked back where he was standing. No where. I walked to the check stands. No where. I walked through the store and looked out into the parking lot. No where. He literally had just disappeared off the face of my earth. In that simple moment he changed me and my approach to life was changed forever.

I realized in that moment just how important we all were as individuals. The secretaries who did order processing. The people who worked the assembly lines and took a break once in awhile. The packaging people and the designers. The people in the distribution centers and the people who cleaned the offices. The people who designed our advertising and designed the displays that I would put up. All of them deserved that one unknown individual to give them a hard worker award and say to them “You are THE MOST IMPORTANT person in your company”. I would have to call it my GOD defining moment. I do not believe in a loving GOD because I have faith that GOD may be a real thing. I know GOD because I KNOW GOD.

Do not shortcut yourself and your importance to your company, your family, your friends, your neighbors even your enemies. Even if it appears that you are not THE MOST IMPORTANT person you change peoples lives everyday. People you know, and those you do not. That is a show of love, concern, and pride in what you believe.

Try it. Test it. I had opportunity making cold calls when at another company in another town a few years later and designed and had printed a HARD WORKER AWARD which I would fill in the name of the secretaries I would call on and give them to each of them when I left that first time encounter. So many smiles I can not tell you, and so simple. Try it. None of us are successful by ourselves. We are successful because of all of those who have touched us in the crossing of our paths. They have made someones day, every day.

Jesus said this to his disciples; “By doing this, for them, you have done it for me, and they will know that you are disciples of mine”. Doubt me? Look it up under Jesus on the internet.

YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT

RESOLUTIONS – BE ATTITUDES
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RESOLUTIONS – BE ATTITUDES

RESOLUTIONS and The BE ATTITUDES

Later this week will Celebrate the coming of new year. We will no doubt be grateful for the end of 2020 and the hope that comes with 2021. It will be the traditional day of making our new year’s resolutions. They will be lose weight, or maybe gain weight. They might be exercise and run a marathon. It may be get married or don’t get married. It may be change jobs. It may be relocate, it may be retire. Just about in some way or form most of us, someplace in our minds will contemplate  our RESOLUTIONS.

As I was reading the other day I came across an interesting thought suggested by a sermon offered up by Jesus when he climbed up a short “mountain’ to speak to a large group of people who were excited to hear him speak after being told from others about this unique itinerant preacher.

There were no sign-in sheets required, no tickets to be purchased, no offerings to be given. There were no restrictions. The joy of it all for me centered around what may your resolutions look like. Every year there was a new year. I would be surprised if even back then, with no New Years programs, or tv, or streaming NEW YEARS was a day of reflection. We had to learn it from someone. This sermon was going to be a new years type of discussion.

AFTER doing 2020, this SERMON FROM THE MOUNT may help you appreciate the wisdom of a simple carpenter/itinerant pastor spreading the GOOD NEWS to the people and how familiar it will feel to you in light of 2020.

Matthew 5: 1-11:

And seeing the multitudes, he (Jesus) went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him and he began to speak. This is what he taught them:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see GOD.
 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of GOD.
 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the  Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets      which were before you.

There is much more in his discussion, but I was the most taken by this initial series. It is why I call this the BE… ATTITUDES. (It is referred to in the New Testament as Beattitudes).

I can not help but read these as having been written last week about what we all have been through in 2020. And much will spill over into 2021. All those entities above represent us in some way, shape, or form. All This is from a book written 2,000 years ago. This does not have to be left untouched on a shelf because it is a religious book, but it is a life book. All those mentioned are affected by the pandemic and the loss of loved ones or more. I see those affected by racism, I see those protesting peaceably, I see those trying to protest peaceably. I see those risking the loss of a hard earned business. I see all those calling for HELP!! Many do not feel that they can trust GOD. Many ask GOD “What did we do to deserve all of this?” Many have no trust in their government, anywhere in the world. Many are trying to be peaceful, and others celebrate their evilness.

GOD is love. Love is at its most powerful when it is shared by a great crowd of prayers to feed it. This book is a book of what is life. It is an attitude of how to live and how your attitude intersects with those around you. GOD IS LOVE. GOD SAYS PRAYERS FOR YOU. ORDINARY PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW PRAY FOR YOU EVERYDAY. ORDINARY PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING THE SAME THINGS. ORDINARY PEOPLE FIT THE ABOVE PROFILES. GOD WANTED YOU TO KNOW IT. YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN AND YOU NEVER WILL BE.

I have attached a song I wrote many years ago to share GOD’S Opinion of you, for you to know.

Have a wonderful NEW YEAR and may your RESOLUTIONS reflect your ATTITUDES.

dw.

Click the link to the song below.

Iamworth onejesus

 

RESTORES MY SOUL
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RESTORES MY SOUL

RESTORES MY SOUL 

The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,
He leadeth me beside still waters
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of right-eousness for His name’s sake.
(Psalms 23 kjv)

Years ago I read the 23rd Psalm over and over again and felt it was talking to me. I just couldn’t seem to relate. For me it was missing a few things for me to relate to. What was it saying to me. The above is just a part of the 23rd Psalm, but it will apply for this discussion.

The Lord is my Saviour and my guide. I shall have all that I require. (Not all that I want, what I require. I will still have more than many do).
(When the fields that I have been tilling have become brown and barren), He bids me to lie down in green pastures.
(When my Faith has been sorely tested and I am ready to give up) He restores my Faith (and my Soul to me).
He leads me along the right paths, (those of your own choosing, that I may serve you there).

At some point in time, every day, I offer this prayer up to GOD (and the rest of Psalm 23) Whoever, whatever, and However GOD happens.

(When my Faith has been sorely tested and I am ready to give up), He restores my Faith (and my Soul to me).

The accumulation of writings called the BIBLE is so much more than a “Religious” writing. The Psalms are in the history of the Jewish faith. For me they are the story of life is. I chose it for today because I have seen much in my life but none that compares to 2020. It is a book that teaches a history lesson of a people struggling, as many do, of what is the purpose of GOD. GOD has been a creator, fighter of wars, a judge, a jury, and you name it. But here in 2020,   WHEN MY FAITH HAS BEEN SORELY TESTED AND I AM READY TO GIVE UP HE RESTORES MY FAITH AND MY SOUL TO ME.

FAITH believes that there is something greater than the times. There is hope. There is LOVE. There is caring. There are thousands around the world who put their lives at risk so that I can have (ALL THAT I REQUIRE). HE RESTORES MY SOUL that my FAITH is on solid ground. GOD does not require a church, GOD does not require follow the leader. Your own choices determine your own locations.

GOD does RESTORE FAITH which RESTORES MY SOUL. It may be In the smile of someone passing by. In the “Can I Help you”, at the store. In that feeling when you yell “GOD” And GOD whispers, “I’ve got your back”. 2020 has made many of us wonder where the world has gone. 2020 instills a risk of pain, loss and change for sure. All of us know someone whose future is changing dramatically. Know one thing from GOD. You ask, and GOD will RESTORE YOUR FAITH and your SOUL. 

AMEN

INTO THINE HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT
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INTO THINE HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT

INTO THINE HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT
And Having Said thus Jesus breathed His last. Luke 23: 46

After over 30 years of Unorthodox Christianity and music about Jesus, and sermons about Jesus, and Prayers to and From Jesus, I have always missed one thing. The stories of the young Jesus and the young adult Jesus.. Jesus died at about 33 years of age. He was recognized as a Rabbi or itinerant Preacher for but 3 years. He began educating himself as early as a young boy seeking out the stories of the prophets in the synagogues and from those people he felt as wise. That leaves about 30 years of stories and his relationships with family and friends and acquaintances that molded Him on the way to this last comment:
“INTO THINE HANDS (GOD), I COMMEND MY SPIRIT”.

What were the younger years like.
Did Jesus wonder about the moon and the stars?
Was he perhaps bullied as a child within the town he had lived in?
Was he the nicest kid or was he the prodigal son?
Did he sit under a small grove of trees and study nature, or the animals, or the neighbors, or the enemies?

We probably know less about the life of Jesus as a normal child growing up and as an adult 30 year old than we know of any other human in history. Most of the life of Jesus that we do know of did not exist until roughly 70 years later and then some in books written by those who knew him as the Messiah, The Christ and a miracle worker. There were no TV, No Cell phones, no social media, no twitter account or movies. And from their lack of knowledge of Jesus, the person on the bench next door, or under the tree with friends, His death became His Beginning.

What do we know of Jesus?

Was He a GOD when growing up? Did He learn from life the lessons He would carry to the crowds that came to hear him and watch him as a man? The sermons I have heard so many times in my life say He was perfect.
He was without sin.
He was GOD’S only son.
Jesus was GOD on a mission to teach.
He was without blemish.
He was GOD incarnate from birth.

“ Him? Isn’t he Joseph’s boy, Jesus? Nothing ever good has come out of Nazareth”

I have never known a young boy to be perfect. I was not, far from it.

Jesus, in the midst of Love One Another, had some pretty harsh words for the Pharisees and the Sadducee. Over turned the tables in the temple. “A brood of vipers”.

I read into Jesus a human being, on a mission, and driven by a force within him to preach a good news rather than a same old same old.

When everything was said and done I recognized that I was not perfect. I was not GOD? I was not a special divine child or man. I did not perform miracles. I did not feel as though I was good enough for Jesus, let alone GOD. So of what value was I to GOD. Not divine, not perfect, not without sin. Jesus was divine. Jesus was special.

DO you ever find yourself questioning how one would ever expect you to achieve all that Jesus did in but 33 years? Would you believe them?

Too often we feel as though we are not good enough to be a disciple of Jesus.

I do not believe it. Even Jesus, at the end of His ministry asked “Take this cup from me, but not my will but yours”. And at the very end, “INTO THINE HANDS (GOD), I COMMEND MY SPIRIT”.

Many times you have been chosen to be the messenger, the coach, the prayer, the savior. You are the first responder, the teacher, the nurse, the doctor, the care giver. More than you think you have made the choice to perform that function and be the hands of Jesus whether you believe in Jesus, GOD, or not. If you simply reflect on your own past, how many times have you chosen, no questions asked, to perform a task that you accept to do and do not debate it for the sake of love. You very much have answered in the very way that Jesus did.

You have performed a request without thought of whether or not you were perfect enough, good enough, knowledgeable enough or even loved enough. In Unorthodox Christianity it was said of this by Jesus “ BY THIS THEY WILL BE SEEN AS DISCIPLES OF MINE” (no denomination required). And you do not recognize it for what it is, represents, and for any great reward beyond a hug and a smile. GOD has worked through the you that you are for the person that you are. NEVER think less of yourself, GOD does not and never will.

INTO THINE HANDS , I COMMEND MY SPIRIT.

GOD BLESS.

Scared To Death
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Scared To Death

I had occasion to be traversing the roads of ruralish Iowa. On this particular day there was an inordinate number of deer lying by the side of the road.

I have seen this often as a road warrior salesman covering a rural territory on back roads. Many deer; lying by the side of the road with no discernible wound. When one hunts and shoots at a deer it is the most common thing for the deer to take off running. If hit it can take time until is succumbs. When hit by a car the carnage is often visible, but at least detectable, and usually the carcass is a ways off the roadway, the animal’s momentum carrying it a certain distance from the point of impact.

In every case this day it was as though the animal died immediately upon seeing the car. It was as though it were “scared to death”.

It is an interesting phrase “scared to death”. When I mention to people that I sing in public or in churches, playing my own accompaniment on my guitar a reply that I often hear is “That would scare me to death”.

When I was a salesman, making innumerable cold calls, the phrase often came up, “That would scare me to death.” It really doesn’t necessarily scare them to die, but like the deer, perhaps it truly does in their mind’s eye. Have the challenges of life that you are afraid of, scared you to death? Have you felt a message to move in a new direction that you feel is a call to you from Jesus? Or from a similar source? Have you been afraid to test the waters of Jesus’ challenge to love one another because you have been afraid of being hurt again, or rejected or refused? Has this fear incapacitated you as much as the deer lying beside the road? Have you been so afraid that you have been a carcass on the roadside listening in a stupor as the relationships of other people’s lives pass by you on the roadway?

How many dreams do we fail to follow because we are afraid they won’t turn out the way we wish until one day we found we have ‘died’ to the life that the dream originally represented?

I know that I have been scared to death before. I have found myself feeling dead to living and patiently waiting for whatever day of my death appears to receive my earthly reward. Then one day I discovered that I had squandered the gift of the blessing of living this life out of fear of the unknown that comes with it.

The Robert Frost poem “The Road Less Taken” is about choices. Two roads diverged in a wood, one was well traveled, and one was less traveled. At the end the statement, for the poet, how much better it has been for him in taking the road less traveled. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”.

I think which road one takes depends on the person. The well-traveled road is well traveled because it works well for most. It satisfies and fulfills. Sometimes it does not. The dreamer is driven and beckoned by the road less traveled. Whatever it is down that road, it is a road the dreamer eventually chooses. That is the essence of the challenge of “Scared to Death”. One had missed the opportunities that lied along the road less traveled.

Jesus, a carpenter’s son, at a time when father and son forged the same future quite often, Jesus chose a road that very easily could Scare Him To Death. All the prophesies that had garnered His attention had a future that would have deterred the choices of others. Death on a Cross in a fight for social justice and a change in the thinking of most. At the final stage of the prophesy Jesus prayed.

“My Father” Jesus began, “if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it as you, not I, would have it”. Jesus’s Faith believed that GOD, under whatever name, is a GOD that prepares the way. Faith is knowing that the gift of this life is as rewarding and fantastic in its living as the reward we seek after its tenure. And that “Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in GOD, still, And trust in me.” Many times in your life you may find yourself “Scared to Death”.

So here I my be, chugging along the road less traveled. How much different would life have been had I chosen this road at the outset, instead of the comfortable and familiar. I believe I have always been moving on the right path. It actually doesn’t make much difference, for this life is a book of travels. And, for now, this journey is on the road less traveled. Trust in GOD, still, And trust in Jesus”.

Matt: 26: 39-40
John: 14: 1