Our desire to pray for all people has been a sacred gift for thousands of years. The innocent have had to fight through wars and weather and changes and the challenges that we all pursue at different times of our lives. There is a power in LOVE that we are all born with and we all have the opportunity to share that love with each other. Every day is a new gift and a remembrance of all those who have shared their lives with the many who have crossed my path and made my life so meaningful.There is not time in a day to remember them all and what they have shared with me. To be able to say thank you for all you have shared with me from childhood to today. I smile as each name is remembered and the power of love gives strength no matter what the day brings. For all of you I have yet to meet I have a sense of well being, not just for them, but what they have shared with me in thought. More often than not the gifts you give to me out way how much I can share with you. Jesus put it this way, “Do unto others as you would have them done unto you”.
Enjoy your days and KNOW THAT OUR CARES AND PRAYERS GO WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES.
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?
I have learned so much being back in Iowa. An appreciation for Ethanol, a whole new world of doctors and excellent nurses, as well as Wind Chill, and now “Snain”. I discovered it during this morning’s walk with the dogs. As we were walking it suddenly got colder. The Wind Chill had raised its ugly head instantly. I pulled the built- in hood of my winter work coat over my light weight ball cap. I could hear something falling onto my hood. I looked around and could see nothing. I saw no birds flying overhead and no squirrels were about. No bugs or gnats. And then, I saw it. “SNAIN”. An almost invisible drip combination of RAIN droplets becoming SNOW drops before my very eyes. It didn’t create the little drops of rain that creates a wet spot on my cap or jacket, it was “SNAIN”. I am amazed at all that Iowa has to offer. I shook my head and went inside and got a cup of coffee. Who knows what a day will bring? First Wind Chill and now SNAIN. Where is Tony Randall when you need him? (This last piece is a test of your overall knowledge of word development).
Enjoy your day and be careful should the SNAIN start falling in your world. OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.
ME, Mack and Jake
FOR LOVE
It is Easter this week. A prayerful time and a thankful time. It is also an every day time. I looked at the news this morning. For sure this day’s response above was light headed. I did so because the day is still with me and all of us. Each day is a gift from GOD to approach each day with thanks giving in spite of what the lead news is on TV. Others who choose to live in the negative and harm the innocent for whatever reason they choose. Be it greed or power or in spite of we have a world of difficulties every morning. It makes me often wonder if my dad was correct in his assessment that Earth is Hell.
And then I see something. I watch the news and find so many people helping so many others. They are not responding to a rule of law. They are not helping their family, relatives, or neighbors. They are helping people. More people that they do not know and they will never meet. Each one they help will say thank you without even knowing their name. These helpers may change their regular day, in their regular location. They start off their Normal day. A joke at work. A funny story remembered from some book or word or picture or nice day. In today’s technology they are helping people in nations around the world. They are LOVING ONE ANOTHER. Not because they have to, but because they want to. They are not all Christians. They are not all Buddhists, or Hindu, or Tao or even unattached to religion of any nature. Somewhat hidden in the day, the day came about. Life has been done however it has happened. How we approach it is how we become. Approach it FOR LOVE.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER and appreciate the opportunities the day has brought with it.
I have done lots of music in my life from my own music to worship music in churches, on retreats, in Barbershop settings, and on and on. When I think that my memory is fading the WORD for today pops up. One of my favorite retreat songs for kids goes: I’ve got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY deep in my heart, deep in my heart…….I’ve got the LOVE OF JESUS, LOVE OF JESUS deep in my heart…..and so on.
As soon as I looked at today’s word “JOY” The whole song bounced into my mind and the pictures of dozens of smiling kids filled my memory. The smile went from left to right and north to south and east to west. Sometimes I feel forgetful and that is when GOD shines a light onto a music folder and the smile appears. Too often we feel that GOD has gone on vacation and forgot to tell us where GOD has been off to. We feel that GOD doesn’t care, or GOD doesn’t exist or GOD is too busy. Then, seeming-lee without paying any attention, GOD drops a little GOD-SHELL to make sure we do not miss all that GOD is doing. We expect great things from GOD, or we do not have any belief in GOD. Great things are too often subtle and we do not recognize all the activity that GOD involves ourselves in. When you find yourself down and out there becomes a song in the background, or a memory to remind you, that GOD is so active that you think that GOD is too GREAT to deal with “just me”? Wrong again.
GOD is more a master of THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT.
I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy …..Have a wonderful day. OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.
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.
I have been writing for many years now. The notes that have become Unorthodox Christianity. They go quite a ways back. Why did I even begin with the writing. It seems I need to remind myself to write more articles. Why?
It largely began with the conversation with a Sunday school teacher I have referenced before. In second grade Sunday School, in the midst of teaching about GOD creating the world and GOOD and EVIL, the teacher asked an open door, “Do you have any questions?”
“Yes”. I responded. “If GOD created everything, why didn’t GOD just make GOOD PEOPLE?”
That was the end of my religious question and answer period. I was embarking on a life where I asked questions and I looked for answers.
First question became IS GOD JUST A REALLY BIG GUY IN THE SKY? Then I touched on JESUS. Should I simply ask the questions to the BIG GUY AT THE TOP? Why Work around the middle man. My dad had worked with professional sales representatives. I guess I got it from him.
I looked up at the sky one evening when I was about 13-14 years old. I began asking GOD questions, with help from the middle man. I could not imagine a BIG GUY IN THE SKY. Too Big. Too many planets. Too many people, too many questions. Too fixed.
So here is God, a spirit that envelopes all created order, galaxies and universes we may never see. There are spiritual dimensions that we can’t even imagine and entities that even Hollywood can’t conjure up. Is GOD a celestial humanoid that only speaks one language and favors one race. A spirit (Whatever that is) that came before all physical creation, affects every single human on Earth to some extent. I have no problem believing in God (whatever a GOD is), but a God with limits on just what [HE] can or can not do?
Then you have the question of the power of Christianity, which is removed from the culture of the legend of Jesus a Messiah for what became a completely different culture that didn’t exist before Jesus? A Messiah that has yet to be accepted by the culture that refuses to accept Jesus as its own Messiah. The CHRIST of Christian is very much a separate entity from the culture Jesus came from and built around converts and Gentiles. In fact the Christian culture of early Christianity created power around an individual who preached LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
It is a wonder that a child in Bethlehem was chosen to carry the spirit and message of God to these people? When these people didn’t listen to Jesus, Jesus sent his insight for LOVE ONE ANOTHER through others who did believe in the life and story of Jesus into other cultures that didn’t speak Jesus’ language or have Jesus’ customs. Groups of other believers that translated Jesus story into their own and patterned their own beliefs along with Jesus. Could there be unconditional love in the midst of all religions without respect of culture, origin, skin tone? We have created racial preferences on EARTH which was created by a single entity to be made in “Our image”.
In the midst of it all GOD has already created that entity to be among us.
It comes in the framework of our pets, our animals, our disenfranchised friends that have a language of their own yet understand our emotions more than we understand our own. They understand our behavior and love us in spite of ourselves. They forgive us more quickly than we can respond. And there have been many millions and billions of followers that have moved forward into Jesus’ message of LOVE ONE ANOTHER, plain and simple.
GOD IS CAPABLE and HAS CREATED GOOD PEOPLE. The truth is that even the GOOD PEOPLE have been around since the beginning.
When we strip away the pious posturing and self beneficial exclusionary doctrines of certain elements of mankind thathave made religious structures that make no sense in the in light of a loving GOD that created everyone to made in “HIS IMAGE”. A disciple of JESUS put it this way, GOD IS LOVE. GOD is a force of energy that too many people have refused to participate in. Look around you. Let us not forget an evil side of Succes AT Anothers Expense within the creation of the energy of LOVE that GOD has to compete with for individual attention.
And eventually UNORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY became a bit more than a question and answer period of a Second Grade United Methodist Sunday School student who asked a simple question. Why?
Because just CHRISTIANITY didn’t fit what I discovered. It didn’t fit the answers I heard of on TV. It didn’t match with JESUS.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER seemed much simpler than what I heard on Sunday mornings in church discussions. AND TOO MANY THREATS. If you do this, your off to hell. You will never go to heaven. Initially there was only HEAVEN in the first place. In the followers from different cultures who embraced the Jesus of LOVE ONE ANOTHER there was a different outlook. A LIFE IS OUTLOOK.
I discovered other things. They were shocking things. LIFE IS TEMPORARY.
Not only that, YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THAT. The opportunity you have been given ON EARTH comes with no time frame. GOOD, BAD, INDIFFERENT, a car accident, a war, a flood, a pandemic, a tornado, a world war. For many A diagnosis at birth, or in the middle of it. This life, with all of its challenges, is here and it is TEMPORARY in this format. We may follow the adherents from other cultures who believe in reincarnation, or do it over until you get it right. There are others who believe that you need to get it right and that is it. I, personally, have never imaged a day I do not get up to enjoy the journey over and over again.
UNORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY IS LIFE IS MEANT FOR LIVING, TAKE YOUR FAITH OFF OF THE SHELF.
LIVE IN THE DARK or LIVE IN THE LIGHT. YOU CHOOSE.
The variety of what you can choose is beyond my scope.
But I have always remembered one thing. “WHY DIDN’T GOD MAKE ALL PEOPLE GOOD ?”
BECAUSE THAT IS OUR JOB.
By the way we act, FORGIVE ME MY TRESPASSES (easy enough) AS I FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE TRESPASSED AGAINST ME (real tough).
LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU
(Way Complicated in it’s depth).
To me, the purpose of living is to participate in the adventure of life.
How you do that is what you choose. You do the best you can while you are here. I have always wanted UNORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY to give you a place where you can MAKE JESUS AND GOD WORK FOR YOU. If you so wish, have a conversation with an entity most of us call GOD. Or a carpenters son named JESUS. Wisdom is not exclusive to just these two. You will meet the wisest people at the most opportune times in your life. It will not happen by coincidence. It will happen for you by asking and recognizing it. It may be your lifelong adventure or at your last breath. You will be forgiven for what you know not what you do. And you may enjoy every moment of the journey. GOD has made all people good, it is just a matter of time.
GOD BLESS and I pray you can make your best life work for you.
It is your gift from GOD and a carpenters SON named JESUS.
What an appropriate Word for today. Prayers can be singled out for all of us for different reasons today and we can help each other with a simple enough prayer to remind us that GOD watches out for each one of us. Even when our prayer concerns overlap each other our prayers are each addressed individually. It may be a response from within our spirits. It may be a call from a co-worker, or a neighbor, or a relative or friend. It may come from a stranger we do not know with the right thing to say, and I am sure each of us has had that day when a TV show causes us to say “I sure did need that message today”. Coincidence is GOD’s norm. That said, enjoy today, the gifts it offers, and the opportunities it represents.
Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him before you leave. As you enter his house salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you. And if anyone does not welcome or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town, shake the dust from your feet. I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgment it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town. Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.
Beware of men: they will hand you over to the Sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and pagans. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say: what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your father will be speaking in you.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved. If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another. I tell you solemnly, you will not have gone the round of the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
America has reached an apex over the last week. Our beliefs and our behaviors have been challenged as a people unlike ever before.
I have mentioned before in my writings, that you may be the only Jesus that many will ever meet.
The passage, above, that I have attached to this writing was not necessarily written for yesterday. It was written for today. It was not written as much solely for America as it was written for the whole world of today. The challenges of today are no different than the above message was written for the world of 2,000 years ago. The religious leaders of those days were frightened of Jesus’ one message.
The primary message of Jesus, to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER means to love the people next to us, the people around us, the family we share with, the people that mean the most to us. Love the neighbor as yourself. The text from Matthew is about the challenge of the message to all of us. The message of Jesus when He spoke to His apostles dealt with how difficult the message was to be absorbed by others.
Make no mistake, Jesus set in motion a new standard that was accepted by so many that it threatened so many of those whose power was based on a whole different standard than loving and caring for one another.
Many segments of the world are still afraid of losing power to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Many segments of the world have learned over the years that those unlike them are people to be afraid of. LOVE ONE ANOTHER threatened their own security.
In our country our democracy is based on our forefathers and their declaration of Independence and their Constitution.
“All Men are created equal”.
“With Liberty and Justice for ALL”.
The years have shown that “All men are created equal” and “Liberty and Justice for All” seems to be more of Lip Service than reality. The events of this last year have proven that the sacrifices of many to LOVE ONE ANOTHER, over many years, have been challenged again. Our country has proven that a majority of America believes in the message of Jesus. Everywhere one turns the first responders, the doctors and nurses and care givers and food providers have risked their lives for one another.
But there have also been those for whom “Shake the dust from your feet” is applicable to those afraid of LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
It takes more than LIP SERVICE to be the hands of JESUS. Whether we approach Jesus as the son of GOD, or as a very wise man spreading a message of hope from a Cross.
Jesus encapsulated a personal message from the Cross. “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do”. Much of what has occurred this last year has brought the Jesus challenge to the forefront and a great many of the people embrace it. 2,000 years ago Jesus said it would not be easy. Jesus lived the challenge of His ministry 2,000 years ago, and today that challenge remains waiting for you to be the hands of Jesus, the mouthpiece of LOVE ONE ANOTHER and a home that Jesus shares time with.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER takes more than LIP SERVICE. Hundreds of thousand’s of people can attest that LOVER ONE ANOTHER does not belong to one church, or one nation or one race or one anything. Get to know that Jesus, not as a historical figure, but as your friend.
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.
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’sFaith 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”.
