Dennis Wheeler

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Accomplished

As I was sitting down the other evening, and thinking about just what “Life Is” some 70 years into “Life Is”. Some things came to my attention. I found myself thinking about just what have I accomplished so far in my life?

I thought about my debt to asset ratio after all these years. I have seen many of the retirement preparations shows on the TV and how I have made it to this point. I am in the Social Security part of my life. I still work and probably will for the rest of of my life. The question rambled throughout my head just what have I accomplished?

I explain it to people that I am independently poor.

That word ACCOMPLISHED seemed to jump out at me like I had just entered into a boxing ring. Just what have I accomplished in my life? I have a long list of what I have wanted to accomplish. What I wanted in elementary school, or high school, or college. How about that first job, or the last one.

In the world of religion and GOD and JESUS and BUDDHA, and many more different religious groups and beliefs is UNORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY.

WHAT HAVE I ACCOMPLISHED?

How many of us ask ourselves what have we accomplished so far in this Life? People I have talked to in my life have asked me, religiously, in different ways, what have I accomplished in my life? So I asked GOD for a clarification.

“Just what, GOD, have I ACCOMPLISHED in 70+ years so far?”

As though it was written by an ancient prophet from somewhere, GOD wrote it like this:

“Life is not about all the things you may have wanted to do. Life is about all of the things that you have done. The people that you have met. The opportunities that you have had a chance to help of or be a part of something important or just fun.

Life is not about what I may feel that I have missed in life. Life is about the journey that I and you have been on as individuals. That is what started on the day I was born and won’t end until I have the opportunity to start over again, and again, and again. That has been called eternal life. It is a thief sharing a cross with JESUS that recognized that JESUS should not have been punished for being good, and Jesus’s response was “Today you will be with me in Paradise”. For a thief, It was recognizing that it was not for accomplishing the great things that he may have wanted, It was now about what he had ACCOMPLISHED in the journey. “Today I will be with Him in Paradise”.

The journey starts every day. It is all you have done and enjoyed and what has become your journey. It is about where you may have crossed the path with someone you will forever remember. The smile someone else brought to you face. The bottle of water that came over to you when you were working to help someone next door. It was watching a baseball game of the kids playing next door and the smiles on their faces. It was opening that first box of girl scout cookies.

It is not about me, it is whatever you have done and what it has become. It has become your life, your friends, your challenges. Your decisions. It is your story and your history for you. You have accomplished more than you recognize. You have worked on LIFE since day one. You can sit in your easy chair and smile at the things that have come your way and made you smile, or changed a disaster and met a friend you will only meet once and forever remember.

Unorthodox Christianity is rooted in an opportunity to take a tremendous journey through Life in what has been and is your world. Just what have you accomplished? You are on your way there, everyday.

CANCER SURVIVORS DAY
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CANCER SURVIVORS DAY

CANCER SURVIVOR DAY 6-5-22

GOOD SUNDAY MORNING ALL

The day is starting as a nice sprummer day. Starting in the upper 50’s on the way to the 80’s. Some sort of rain is due for this afternoon and more aggressive weather tonight. As I often say “the excitement never ends”.
 All by itself today is a special day. I have been so focused on my upcoming surgery that I just about missed Cancer Survivors Day. I know that our group here includes “survivors”. I am a survivor for 2 years now. How fortunate we survivors are to be moving forward from diagnosis to having a special day everyday. The norm has changed from the beginning. I appreciate all the encouragement all of you have extended. I remember a co-worker who said it best : “I have been blessed”.

There is a long story about how I became a survivor. I had moved back to Iowa in late 2019 and began working through a mutual friend just during the Christmas Retail times. Because of my move I got a new Medicare Advantage insurance company in 2020.  I was scheduled to a doctors appointment as a new patient. I am, obviously, a follower of Jesus and manifested that in the creation of Unorthodox Christianity many years ago. That I had a relationship with Jesus and GOD and paid attention to places I had moved, and believe that I can have a warm friendship with Jesus and GOD. Many of our conversations had led to interesting and positive results. In this case it put me in Iowa at a doctors office with a new doctor I did not know and a simple blood test which was a normal visit for me over all my years. The visit was done and I left. I am physically well, and I exercise regularly and my work was active. A few days later I received a call from my new doctor to come by the office on my day off. To make a long store short the doctor said that my PSA test came back positive and that I had prostate cancer enough to take it seriously.
I had never tested positive for a PSA test before, let alone seriously enough to measure concern for the nature of the Prostate Cancer. I was forwarded to specialists and was fortunate to get treated quickly and am currently very positively ahead enough to be called a survivor. I followup a couple of times each year now.  All of the events that led me to Iowa and the subsequent cancer treatment was a path designed by GOD and Jesus in the same way that they have impacted my life through our conversations over years and years.

For those of you who are searching to build a relationship with Jesus and GOD, do not believe that you have to wait until you die to go to Heaven and then talk to Jesus and/or GOD. To those who open the door to Jesus and GOD in FAITH you will have a journey beyond all others. During the every day of your life you will build that relationship to the point that one does not question a gentle nudge from GOD. Yes it is Unorthodox for sure. You also will say “I have been blessed”. I was loved at birth and have been loved every day since. Yes, today is a special day for many of us.

OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALL and I know that we all have been blessed every day.

ME, Mack and Jake

DO UNTO MEN AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO WOMEN.
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DO UNTO MEN AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO WOMEN.

FOR WOMEN ONLY: IT TAKES A MAN TO MAKE A BABY

I have been back and forth on politics through the years. It is unlikly that Unorthodox Christianity would not have an opinion.

The Roe vs Wade Supreme Court leak has brought me back to politics.

Let me figure this out for you. It takes a man to make a baby. I have done a lot of research and without sperm nothing happens.

5 Supreme Court males are looking at doing away with abortion. No man has ever had to abort a baby. They may have assisted to pay for it for their convenience, after all, they created the baby.

In the world of the Bible and GOD there is a precept. DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEN DO UNTO YOU. It takes a man to make a baby. And yet we have to assume that a man should bear the brunt of the responsibility of making a baby. Many of the abortions I have heard of are centered about the cost of raising the baby created by the man and yet of the five men voting on the existing law and all of the new non-abortion laws coming in the states, signed by men, are justifying the laws against abortion do not require that the men that make the babies in the first place do not seem to have to pay for them. No male who creates the baby is going to be fined $10,000 if the baby he creates results in the abortion. They simple do not pay. They can’t pay with money they refuse to have. Unemployment, or no money is no money.

I do not see where the emphasis is being placed among the men who create the babies in the first place. The decisions are made by men. Both in the Supreme Court and in the creation of babies. These legal decisions are being made by men. The Judicial Courts haven’t passed a simple law that would require the baby maker male would be required to pay for that child forever. The baby isn’t free. It doesn’t come free for the women whose baby was created by the male. Why? Because men want life to be free. Fun has to be free for men, but not for women whose baby was created by a man, irregardless of your argument.

DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU is a GOD law. Every church in the country believes in this doctrine from GOD and yet men are not held responsible to pay for the child for the life of that child. But women? They pay the freight for the child that would not be here if it were not for the man. The men are not accountable to pay for the child for life. The men aren’t held accountable for creating the baby.

Are there any dormitories in any college who have a woman raped in a hazing incident that are required to pay for that child for the rest of that child’s life.

If you claim Christianity as your belief, the men who create the child must be fathers that wanted the baby of the resultant child AS THEY WOULD WANT THEM DONE UNTO YOU. And yet the male justices are not focusing on the creater of the child in the first place. The males want to be off scott free. They do not pay for the baby. If they don’t work they leave their creation to the expense of a woman that the male simply doesn’t pay for child and the woman can’t afford it but, remember, the woman did not create the baby in the first place. The true culprit in the program was the male and GOD created all of them in the first place. When you want to measure your life by your religion you must accept the responsibility of being GOD by creating the child in the first place. GOD impregnated Mary who had a baby JESUS who was assisted by a carpenter to pay the bills for the life of the child to a point of adulthood. No bailing out. THE BABIES ARE CREATED BY MEN. Then men should be responsible for all that they create.

Where are the creators $10,000 fines from the state of Texas, or Oklahoma, or any other state that has as yet to learn the knowledge that the male is the creator, the female is a carrier. Make no mistake: THE BABIES ARE CREATED BY MEN. NO MEN, NO BABIES.

DO UNTO MEN AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO WOMEN. This is the example that GOD made by providing for Mary a provider for His Son Jesus.

DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU

SUPPLEMENTS OF LIFE
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SUPPLEMENTS OF LIFE

GOOD MORNING ALL

Doing a bit more research today getting ready for surgery next week. I am not supposed to eat herbal supplements prior to surgery. Not being a dietitian, I looked up the National Institute of Health on “supplements”. There went my entire diet. (Not really). It is interesting all of the “supplements” we all have access to. Some, though, are very helpful to know about. I think I am doing OK. Good water is safe.

Today’s word reminded me of a dear friend from years ago who had been diagnosed with liver cancer and was told he had just a few weeks to live. We were walking one morning (As we did every morning since he was told) when he mentioned “You know Dennis, I’ve never seen the leaves greener, the roses are redder, the smells are more sweet and intense, it is simply a beautiful day. Do not miss any of them in your everyday life “.

Life is a beautiful place to hang out. I have been so blessed by that profound commentary from my friend at a cherished time in his life. My entire life was changed since that day. We rush and rush and work and work. The magnificent world we have been given is often ignored or passed by for the sake of other things. With next week ahead, the reminder to see the beautiful in the everyday is a blessing. May all of you see the beauty in nature that surrounds us in some way every day. The list of all the supplements of life is the gift for us all. They affect each of us in some way. More than just food supplements there are streams of water, sunrises and sunsets. I have been blessed to be in the mountains with the giant sunsets and lakes and fountains. Looking over the ocean, a morning fog (even in Iowa). GOD created all the supplements of life, for each and every one of us. In billions of different ways and billions of unique smiles.

As I watch the news I am reminded of what JESUS forwarded to us from GOD. The most important supplement we have been given the opportunity to share:

LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Have a blessed and a beautiful day and know that OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU EVERY DAY.

ME, Mack and Jake

Simply Being
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Simply Being

GOOD MONDAY MORNING​ ALL

A wonderful day off. A bit cloudy, not quite as windy, not snowing, I wonder if I am still in Iowa.
Do you ever have a munchie day? Today is it. I have to get to the grocery sometime today so it may just be my reminder machine. I have heard so many at the gym complaining of the cold, I often wonder if we will appreciate simply being. For today my goal is to enjoy simply being. Have a wonderful day and enjoy the day that has been done for you. OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

ME, Mack and Jake

WHERE DOES HEAVEN ON EARTH HANG OUT
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WHERE DOES HEAVEN ON EARTH HANG OUT

GOOD MORNING ALL
An interesting day so far. Running a bit late for today but slept in late with the dogs and it changed my pace for my day off. I kept watching “OLD” TV and with laundry in the background I became enhanced with the “OLD” TV that I watched while growing up vs the “NOW” TV and what it has become.

Life has really changed over the years and TV is no different than what politics has become. Technology as well as culture has changed considerably. From no TV to the INTERNET and SOCIAL MEDIA, life has changed considerably in a very short period of time.

I am becoming more comfortable with my old favorite, instrumental music only, that the dogs get to listen to when I am off to work. I am kind of like back from outer space and resuming my day off. I feel young watching “OLD TV” and old while watching how it has all changed.

One question that entered my mind is how GOD and JESUS and HEAVEN ON EARTH have changed. Between HEAVEN and HELL and SIN and REVELATIONS on the doorstep, the Christian religion has out paced HEAVEN ON EARTH. Just what kind of EARTH is HEAVEN supposed to be like by now? What changes would GOD present EARTH to be like since the FLOOD. Then JESUS was supposed to reset our mindset about HEAVEN ON EARTH.

The books of BIBLE, or REVELATIONS, as an example, is a huge business for the religion of JESUS the CHRISTIAN. It is hard to determine just what they are trying to accomplish with book after book after book about the end. The book people are happy, and there seems to be a Christian religious book for everyone irregardless of the different opinions of over 30,000 denominations of “Christians” ON EARTH. JUST AS IT IS IN HEAVEN? How does one decide just which book to read and what do I want to take away from the book I am reading. Where does HEAVEN on EARTH hang out? How are we to grasp which image is the future image or the past image.

I want to offer a very simple NEW IMAGE from an OLD, OLD LEGEND:

LOVE ONE ANOTHER. PERIOD.

NO SPECIAL BOOKS. NO special chapters. NO BIBLES and NO ANYTHING ELSE. Easy to remember. Covers all the grounds. DEALS WITH ALL CULTURES AND ALL COUNTRIES. One just makes it work themselves. Maybe even HEAVEN can’t be this difficult to make it work.

The weather is nice today and it is due to rain tomorrow. Have a wonderful day and enjoy all the opportunities that the day presents. OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALL.

ME, Mack and Jake

EACH DAY
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EACH DAY

Each Day

Unorthodox Christianity can cover a lot of ground. When I first started Unorthodox Christianity I followed a typical Church driven idea to tell people what you need to know to follow the scriptures and analyze them and maybe even debate now and then. The more I moved forward with it the more questions I asked myself. What I have written below is a more common writing of today vs then.

The more people I talked with, the more people fell into the category of disenfranchised. The more I heard about their first visit, or return visit, to a church environment was followed by comments similar to “I did not feel welcome”. “I did not feel that I belonged there”. “It felt that I wasn’t ‘their’ type”.

Analyzing scripture left something out for them to grasp and get familiar with. I wondered just what was missing.

The most common desire among most seemed to be a relationship. Not necessarily with the people in that church setting, but the building of a relationship with GOD, and JESUS. A relationship that they could grasp. One day a week for a couple of hours simply was not creating the environment of a relationship that some people would truly find trust in a short term setting.

Most every day I wake up with a relationship. It may be with family, or my dogs and wagging tails that welcome me every day. Not just 2 hours a week. Just about everyday I cross paths with the neighbors. I say hello to, wave at, smile with, talk about the weather. A constant feeding of relationship that builds familiarity. It also builds conversation and a measure of trust.

I feel welcome. I feel like I belong. I feel comfortable. And when life happens, I find the neighbors who help shovel some snow, or help with a problem, or asks me to sit down and they ask how things are going.

When I was very young I did Sunday School and such. I went because my family took me. We finished church and went off to lunch. I forgot all about GOD or JESUS and I remember how good the lunch was. I had the stories about GOD and JESUS in the BIBLE that came with the SUNDAY SCHOOL. I started thinking about GOD. I started to read the books at home. I stared at the night sky and thought about the huge creations before me. I was curious who GOD was. I decided to just ask GOD about why all people weren’t good. And the relationship started. I was never afraid of GOD. A friend asked me what I thought about JESUS. I mentioned that my dad, a sales manger, once said that the secret to sales success is getting right to the man (or female) in charge. I felt that I could just as easily talk to the man at the top. It started small and finally we had built a relationship. We covered a lot of ground over all these years. If you wish  to build a relationship with GOD, go for it. I could keep going on and on about the years we have already built. But it started with my questions and it developed before me. How did it work? It wasn’t magic. You will discover that GOD has ways to communicate with you that you may never understand how, but you will understand by taking it to GOD. You will discover it. GOD will find many ways to talk with you. Many times you will be surprised by it. As far as I am concerned that is the purpose of the relationship with GOD. It is not a weekly event. it happens EACH DAY.

The message below is something I do every day to the people who are most important to me. Sometimes it becomes part of the blog. This idea of relationship can not be built with rules, it is built with trust that comes from familiarity. GOD will establish the relationship with you. You my get mad at GOD. You may thank GOD for something that gets pointed out to you.

This blog today is called EACH DAY. Enjoy it.

GOOD MORNING ALL

Just trying to relax and enjoy a day off. One would think that the older you get and the less “Work” you have to do, the easier life becomes. So far the easier part has yet to appear very often. When I was a young man the idea of a vacation was the goal of life. Today life is the goal of life. Fortunately each day is an achievement. Thank you all for your help, prayers, and encouragement. You have made it all worthwhile. OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

Have a wonderful day.

ME, Mack and Jake

We hear a lot about when we get to Heaven and how our relationship with GOD is going to be something special. You are in Heaven each day right now. Heaven is not a new beginning. Birth was the new beginning. The relationship with GOD started years before your birthday. GOD appreciates you and encourages you. Not years from now but EACH DAY. As my Aunt Vera(my daughters namesake) said over and over again for years and years, “Isn’t that Wonderful”.

Enjoy EACH DAY. It starts that way, every day.

GOD BLESS.

OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

HANDING OFF THE GRACE
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HANDING OFF THE GRACE

GOOD SATURDAY MORNING ALL

A very bright and sunny Saturday morning in Iowa. It started at 9* and is now at 25 on the way to the mid 30’s. The snow is melting from the bright sunshine and I am doing well from the adventure of a prep procedure at the hospital on Wednesday. It is a unique feeling to try and grasp the anesthesia as it wears down and it becomes less and less and then you discover all the things they did in a short period of work. Many people believe that GOD is enough and that belief will carry the day. As I watched the teams at the hospital and the camaraderie of the staff and their attitude of helpfulness they were defining the word GRACE to me.

Nothing is as valuable as GOD’s Grace through the hands of people and our animal companions. GOD requires hands, and voices and smiles and vision. So many times a wagging tail has changed my entire attitude as life moves on. 

When I look back on my life I can remember the times that GOD has handed off the Grace to others to teach me, correct me, and put a smile on my face. When I am asked by GOD to help others, it is often those previous examples of GOD’s GRACE through others that I invoke to put a smile on a face or a lesson from the background. I often get asked how I am doing and I respond the same way, every day and time. “I have made it this far”. Whether young or old, whatever race or culture, whether female or male, blue collar or white collar or no collar, they say they understand and “Yes we have” is a sign behind the smile. Each of you have a wonderful day and enjoy it.

OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

ME,

Mack and Jake (THE GUARDIAN ANGEL DOGS share GRACE with me every minute and everyday. It is a goal of mine to be more like them, everyday.)

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

TOMORROW
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TOMORROW

GOOD SATURDAY ALL

I always seem to have a Saturday in waiting. Rest is a priority but the list doesn’t stop there. Laundry, vacuum, dishes, food, think.

Tough to think about a full plate. How fortunate to be in a position to move along one project and then another. Maybe miss one to pass along to tomorrow. Tomorrow seems to be convenient, but I have seen that it never seems to appear. What can you do on tomorrow anyway? I have yet to see the calendar that starts with tomorrow. Anyway, off to do things today. Tomorrow will have to wait. Stay safe and warm. OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

  ME, ,Mack and Jake