thanks
THOUSANDS OF YEARS
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.
ME, Mack and Jake
Have A Great Day GOD
A light rainfall in Iowa this morning. Hoping for a break in the clouds so that the dogs can go out. They were out at 5:30 for breakfast and they did their thing for now. The most common conversation in Iowa goes “WE NEED THE RAIN”. I have laundry drying and trying to think ahead. I will have to test exercise for inside like in rehab. I have plenty of examples to utilize.
When I wake up in the morning I meet life for another day. I am grateful to have another opportunity. The things I have to concentrate on is taking time to quietly sit in my chair, take as much time as I can and simply say Thank You GOD. I do not believe that I truly need to say more than that. I like to think GOD smiles when I take the time to say Thank You. I may just say “Have a nice day” also.
In the midst of all the business that surrounds GOD in whatever day, having someone say “Have a nice day GOD” followed by my Aunt Vera reminding GOD “Isn’t that wonderful” can help GOD to break out in a smile and say “Thank You”. Life is the gift I wake up for.
I think I will take some chair time when done with this and share a cup of coffee with GOD. I am sure He (or She or Whatever) will enjoy it. For my everyday friends, Have a wonderful day and KNOW THAT OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU also.
ME, Mack and Jake
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
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
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
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.)
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
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
Heaven, Hereafter, or hereNOW
Heaven, Hereafter, or hereNOW
From 5-30-2006
I have heard a great many sermons in my life that are to tell me what heaven and the hereafter are like. I have heard so many that I now know one thing for certain; no one has a clue.
Hereafter
I do know that if I do not choose Jesus as my Lord and savior I am doomed to eternal damnation and life in Sheol (whatever that is). I do know that I cannot be saved if I am not Baptist, (or Mormon, or Methodist, or Presbyterian, Evangelical or Episcopalian and certainly I don’t have a prayer of heaven if I am not Catholic). This causes a substantial dilemma since I cannot be all of the above at the time of my death. Of course, I will also spend a life in eternal damnation if I am not Jewish, or Sunni or Sikh, or Moslem or Hindu or Buddhist or any of dozens of other religions that inhabit the Earth.
I guess that means that I may resign myself to the “bad” place.
Then again:
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Jesus, as a teacher or Rabbi or preacher or philosopher or son of GOD, holds forth in his hand the ultimate carrot, “Why wait?”
I do not believe that Jesus came and sacrificed himself on a cross to merely extend promises of a fancy divine hereafter. Most religions seem to offer up Nirvana in some shape or form.
What Jesus did was to come and offer us insights as to how we can positively impact the here and now. Jesus taught us how to impact the heaven that lies within our grasp right now, daily, not the after.
Whether Heaven has mansions or refers to new bodies in different times as the Hindu believe (reincarnation) is irrelevant to me. Whether we sing in a divine chorus 24/7 (or whatever time-frame is the physics of heaven) is not as relevant to my living as the promise that I can experience heaven now, as Dennis, as me. It is equally important that you can live it as you.
Is it no wonder that Jesus’ teaching was so radical that most, not even those closest to him, could comprehend His meaning? The Heaven that Jesus prayed for is within our grasp daily. ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN, what a radical and impossible dream. LOVE ONE ANOTHER, another impossible dream.
Daily? A fantasy for sure. Jesus has been the object of great debate since the beginning. Those who do not wish to change much look forward to the end of their lives firm in the knowledge (or belief) that the hereafter has the mansion they couldn’t charge here. They look toward a magic place where grace takes them and places upon them a robe of authority or position and extends divine preference based on the sign in front of the building they visited on Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon for an hour or two out their week.
And yet no one can tell me what they will do all day, every day, for eternity. More than that, they wish me to believe that they can perform this function for eternity when they get fidgity now after 60 minutes out of each week in GOD’S own house, which they built with their own money. How do they expect to be satisfied with that heavenly life when a half hour of prayer daily is a challenge. How will they adore GOD every day, all day when they can not accept the Muslim on their knees 5 times daily when they are reluctant to extend thanks at the dinner table with GOD’S blessing of food to eat before them daily.
I do not believe Jesus was about hereafter. All kinds of religion handle the hereafter. What was unique about Jesus was his preaching about the hereNOW.
Jesus did not say to the blind man, “Your sight will be restored in the hereafter”.
Jesus did not say to the lame man, “You will walk on the heavenly shore”.
Jesus did not say, “Kill your neighbor and you will be great in heaven”.
Jesus did not stand before the tomb of Lazarus and yell “Lazarus, have a great time.”
Jesus did ask of his spiritual father, “On Earth as it is in heaven”.
Jesus was about the hereNOW.
The great teachers teach us how to live the here and now. They teach us how to make the best of who we are, appreciate what we’ve been given, share the blessings of our wealth be it physical or spiritual, and enjoy the journey of our living. Jesus says to me, appreciate, share, and enjoy for the Father has tomorrow handled. Whether I play a harp for eternity, or return to this place again and again and again is GOD’S venue, what Dennis Wheeler does with His appointed days is mine. I can live an example of a Jesus or Jimmy Hoffa. I can appreciate all I’ve been given or be driven to power and it’s ultimate corruption. I can share what I’ve been given or horde it until that day when it lies in a yard sale weeks after my passing, or worse yet, is tossed into a dumpster and becomes buried with countless other lives under tons of dirt fill.
The reality of life is the hereNOW, the speculation is the hereAfter.
If GOD was less concerned for us He would not have utilized Jesus to promote a better hereNow. GOD would have left us to the Jewish law, or paganism, or mythology. We would be eternal passers by, the bad Samaritan, the righteous priest or the self focused CEO or CFO.
What if I’m in Heaven now? Do I help its dream, or hinder it? Am I promoter of it, or a thief? Am I an encourager of living or a prospector of dying? What do I feel that Jesus would have me do? If I call myself a Christian, to be true to my Jesus and myself, I should be living the best hereNOW I am capable of. I should appreciate it, share it, and enjoy it as the gift that it is.
Amen.