July 22, 2022 by dennis wheeler

THE BOOKS ARE NEVER FINISHED

“ORDINARY PEOPLE” Click on music if it doesn’t start by itself.

CONFIDENCE

So on July 15th, 2022 GOD stopped by while I had Open Heart Surgery at GOD’s own bequest. GOD didn’t want me to do this just with the help of some excellent doctors and nurses. GOD always prepares and never gives up on a project. The first thing GOD did was prepare the project with GOD’s gift in the hands of the people that the above song is all about. Not just me, not just a few. Once GOD had put all the pieces of this project together over a period of a year and a half. GOD got so many people to help me, to watch the dogs, to drive me here and there, and a whole team of encouragement givers appeared. As I was talking with a couple of the encouragers the other night they asked me a question. “You have done all of this so well with your surgery, and your positiveness. Just how did you do it?”

I thought about the question for a few minutes and the word came to me. “CONFIDENCE”. I was getting ready to be off to bed and I found myself remembering with a group of people from a song I had written years ago. The song at the beginning of this writing. “Ordinary People.” I talked to my encouragers. “Confidence is not just a gift. If you do not mind me sharing. Confidence is not born of one event. It is born of a lifetime of events of “Ordinary People” who have shared their “Confidence” in hundreds of events in my life. ORDINARY PEOPLE who have shared my lifetime in so many situations”. I shortly left for bed. But I was not done with this note for this lesson.

You see we often make a huge mistake when we miss the values of Unorthodox Christianity. We think that the Bible’s have all the stories. We write them down and memorize them from Bible school to Bible College to Sunday School and all kinds of Bible Studies. There are all kinds of Churches and stories about what will happen if you don’t believe this story, or that story. The truth of GOD is this:

THE BOOKS ARE NEVER FINISHED. THE “ORDINARY PEOPLE” ARE NEVER DONE. GOD has provided us with enough encourgers and personal stories of so many events over lifetimes of stories that they have become libraries that have filled the ages of writings, and stories, and songs for you to share with and lives to learn from. They surpass the few books that we ascribe to our Bibles and we miss the thousands of books that have become thousands of years of events throughout the world. GOD knows that the few books we attribute to the “Bibles” are such a small volume of the works of GOD and “ORDINARY PEOPLE” that telling people what GOD has in mind for our lives doesn’t scratch the surface of just one ORDINARY PERSON, let alone thousands, let alone billions that have become just who we are.

Just what are people looking for when they seek out GOD for their own relationship with GOD? What do the “Ordinary People” ask of GOD? More and more people have a harder time with a GOD who criticizes everything from a journey that GOD will sort out and that GOD will see lifetimes of challenges and changes. GOD will send ORDINARY PEOPLE to encourage so many encourgers over so many lifetimes to support so many. And suddenly it becomes lifetimes of forever lifetimes of “Life after Death”.

One thing I have gotten out of Unorthodox Christianity over all these years is pretty simple. ” Lifetimes of CONFIDENCE”.

THE BOOKS ARE NEVER FINISHED. THE BOOKS WILL ALWAYS EXIST. THE BOOKS WILL ALWAYS BE FOUND NO MATTER WHERE THEY MAY BE HIDING. THAT IS WHAT CREATES CONFIDENCE. AND CONFIDENCE IS WHAT CREATES FAITH. AND FAITH IS THE HALLMARK OF GOD.

“HE CHOSE ORDINARY PEOPLE TO BE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST.”

April 9, 2022 by dennis wheeler

GOD’S IMAGE

GOOD SATURDAY AFTERNOON ALL

I have had an interesting day. So different from the weatherman over the last many days. Cold and wind chill and wind chill and cold creates its own image of how the day proceeds. When I woke up at 6 AM to take the dogs out there was no wind and the sun was waking up right along with us. Make no mistake, I did not dream it.

We all smiled and the day changed to the TV after a long morning walk to the park. The computer expanded the TV to catch up on some reading and writing. The lunch treat became a couple chocolates, coffee and cinnamon rolls and a monster cookie. More habit than good idea. (You have to remember that GOD goes shopping with me once in a while). The computer led me to more reading and it is now 1:40 PM as I have tuned in to the WORD. IMAGINATION.

Most of you know I write this blog and a music blog and have for years. I would love to be able to sit back and take the credit for my imagination. The guardian angels (Mack and Jake) take me for walks. Go left, go right. Let’s go this way or that way. The clock tells me what time to go out, before the rain or after the snow stops falling. GOD helps me write the music via the people that GOD has entered into my life. Some to say hi and have a nice day. “Nice to touch spring”. Years of others to share parts of their lives with a part of mine. The blog and the music is merely the result of my interest in what GOD has shared with me over many, many years of choices and decisions and opportunities. Where credit is due, credit should be recognized for those who GOD has shared with me and my journeys.

Today there is a smile on my face that overlooked laundry, groceries, cleaning and assigned the day for what it is. A day off and moving forward. Have a wonderful day and know that OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

ME, and Mack and Jake

April 6, 2022 by dennis wheeler

THE LITTLE THINGS COUNT

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING ALL

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.

ME, Mack and Jake

April 3, 2021 by dennis wheeler

It’s True For EASTER 2021

I first posted this song last year in 2021 for Easter Sunday. With all of the challenges of the the Pandemic and the election and social media I felt my belief to believe needs to be recognized that what happened 2000 + years ago was embraced by followers whose only knowledge was driven by the calls of that Sunday morning. No newspapers, no books, no TV or anything else. This is what the people knew and heard about. From that moment a single itinerant rabbi introduced the world to a belief that was just 2 days before hopeless. Today His name Jesus is a name that is known throughout the world. May the events of those days answer your questions and may your develop a relationship with Jesus that will enrich your life forever.

I Decided to post a song of mine that I wrote a number of years ago for this Easter Sunday. Unorthodox Christianity as I see it follows the story, believes in it, and tries to live it. The song seems appropriate for this day. One need not agree. One can even debate it. For me, and my house….. It’s True.

Click the left button to start.

Lyric:

The women say…….. It’s empty now
His body’s gone…….. and He’s Risen
Oh It’s True…..Oh they say that it is true
He has risen from the dead for me and you

They have seen him once again… and He’s forgiven all our sins
You can praise and join along…. They couldn’t kill the savior’s love
Oh It’s True…..Oh they say that it is true
He has risen from the dead for me and you

It’s so hard to comprehend….. For I stood and watched Him die
But they say they’ve seen Him risen and the truth can’t be denied
I had placed Him in the tomb…And then I turned around and cried
Now they say that He is risen and His love is still alive
Oh It’s True…..Oh they say that it is true
He has risen from the dead for me and you

And then I see Him…….

Touch my feet and touch my hands
Put your fingers in my side
You can see the tomb is empty and this truth can’t be denied
Oh It’s True……Jesus is seen and He’s Alive
He is risen from the dead and He’s the Christ

Touch my feet and touch my hands
Put your fingers in my side
You can see the tomb is empty and this truth can’t be denied

Oh It’s True…Jesus is seen and He’s Alive
He is risen from the dead and He’s the Christ…
Oh It’s True…Jesus is seen and He’s Alive
He is risen from the dead and He’s the Christ…

IT’S TRUE…….

December 27, 2020 by dennis wheeler

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

June 7, 2020 by dennis wheeler

Light A Candle

Click above arrow on left to start song.

Light A Candle is a song I wrote in 2001.

On September 11, 2001 there occurred an event in New York City that changed the course of humankind forever. A terrorist attack on the World Trade Center killed thousands, and more in a plane crash in Pennsylvania, and a plane attack on the Pentagon. In my safe world in Salt Lake City I called in late for work and was told to turn on the news immediately. As I turned on the TV, I watched plane 2 fly into Tower 2. We all can tell similar stories for when we heard. The immensity of the event changed the everyday. That Sunday I went to church. Our friends from Pakistan came in that morning and the fear was in their eyes and it touched my heart. They had moved to America for religious freedom as they faced terrorism in their own country for their religious beliefs. They were neither terrorist, nor even affiliated with the country the Terrorists had come from. But they were victims. Sometime later many of us from that church and other churches gathered at a memorial given to pray for the victims and the country. The hate was at the forefront of political and national rhetoric, as one would of expected it to be. War was in the air. And I remembered my personal choice of Christianity. I had no problem with the concept of justice for those responsible, and some day they may all see the justice that they deserve. But at this memorial, by Christians, I presented a song I was inspired to write by the one whom I profess to believe in.

It is self explanatory and is also located on my dcwheelermusic.com website. As appropriate as it was then, I post here on 6-7-2020 for the events of our last two weeks are as hurtful, and even more universal in our country today. Racism under any banner is unacceptable for we are a country that has attempted many times to make the dream of Ellis Island be available for everyone who chooses to be a member of our American family. In memory of George Floyd and all who have had to fight the battle of racism, not of terrorists from outside us, but the people within us.

I archive it here, because I can. And because its validity is as needed today well beyond the confines that it had then. dwheeler 6-7-2020

w/m all rights reserved..Dennis C Wheeler 2001-present

Light A Candle : Lyric w/m by Dennis C Wheeler 2001

Light a candle in the darkness that the world might see the light
In a world that lives with anger, may the love of GOD shine bright
In the hatred of the shadows, amidst the power of the dark
By the light of just one Christian, may the oceans of the hatred learn to part

Light a Candle In the darkness
Light a Candle Where you are
Light a Candle In the darkness
Show the world A place to start

In a world so bent on Anger and the power desired by men
Where controlling one another, is the foundation of our sin
We forget all of the lessons of the man upon the Cross
By the light of just one Christian may the oceans of the hatred learn to part

Chorus

We take a legacy of love into a world so bent on hate
That it cheers the death of others as though Glory was its fate
We must learn to love each other with compassion in our hearts
So by the light of just one Christian may the oceans of the hatred learn to part

Chorus (2x)

June 3, 2020 by dennis wheeler

ORDINARY PEOPLE

The Meek Shall Inherit
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. (Matt. 5: 4-Tyndale NT)

If song does not automatically start push arrow button on left.

A number of summers ago I was asked to perform at an outdoor revival meeting called Break Down the Walls in Salt Lake City, UT. On one particular afternoon there was a fiery evangelist preaching his Full Gospel Message. In the best tradition of fiery Full Gospel preachers he jumped up and down and shouted and gestured wildly as he moved from one side of the stage to the other, “THANK GOD that Jesus came for us sinners. That Jesus came here, to the other side of the tracks”.

He went on to discuss how deeply we are in sin and why we suffer and how great it was that Jesus came for us sinners. I thought immediately of a young lady on a retreat I was on who commented that she didn’t feel she could find Jesus because she hadn’t been ‘hurt’ enough in her life to find Jesus.

I sat back and thought to myself, Thank GOD that JESUS came for the little lady who always sat in the back of the sanctuary and made a cake or a meal for every funeral at the little white church I had attended in western Minnesota. That Jesus came for the school teacher who stopped in after Sunday school class to help clean, or mow the lawn. The neighbor who took a dessert bar to the family next door when there was a loss or a celebration.

I thought, “Thank GOD that Jesus came for the ORDINARY PEOPLE. The ones who live ‘normal’ lives, who aren’t necessarily fallen angels or alcoholics, or from broken homes or live broken lives. Yet we all have challenges for that is what “normal” truly is.

I translated my thoughts into the above song above called ORDINARY PEOPLE, just like you and I.

Enjoy.

Ordinary People ; w/m Dennis C Wheeler 2002 Lyric:

Ordinary People, just like you and I, He chose ordinary people to be followers of Christ. Ordinary people with ordinary flaws. He took ordinary people with Him to the cross.

Ordinary people living ordinary lives. To be priests among the people were the chosen ones of Christ. From the walks of daily living, they followed as He talked, From the shores of fishing villages to the dark day of the cross.

It is the promise we’ve been given that it isn’t where we’re from, it isn’t what may be our status or our color or our jobs, we’ve been called to tell the people of the sacrifice of Christ. Grace for ordinary people is the reason that He died.

Jesus called the ones to follow who would boldly tell the truth. It was a call of faith and courage for what He was about to do. Just like ordinary people, at first they ran away, I am so much like those people it was me He came to save.

There is always hope for sinners, for forgiveness is His call. Called as ordinary people separated from our GOD. One the cross He called out to us, to those standing in the street. HOPE for ordinary people is what Jesus came to teach.

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April 12, 2020 by dennis wheeler

It’s True For EASTER 2021