tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80732588464258760482024-03-12T23:15:52.861-04:00Welcome to Dan White's Rolling Pen BlogMy blog covers everything from healthy eating and weight loss to our camping adventures.
My blog covers everything from healthy eating and weight loss to our camping adventures in our Regency National Traveler Camper Van. Thanks for stopping by!
The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-77325115843964165382020-07-19T20:56:00.000-04:002020-07-19T20:56:58.413-04:00Stuck in Reverse
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">July 19, 2020. We were all loaded up and set to pull out this morning for Black Rock Mountain State Park. Joyce and I were excited. Our Shelties were too. They love to go camping. </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We have a 2019 Dodge Ram Regency National Traveler Camper Van that we bought new in February 2019, and it only has a little over 3,000 miles on it. </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We’ve taken 17 camping trips with it without a problem. Then, we got a recall letter about a month ago and took it in to the Thomson (Georgia) Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep dealer for the warranty work on the transmission. It made it fine up there and back. We felt better having the warranty work done. </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="text-align: left; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We loaded up the camper and planned on leaving after church today. Joyce cranked it up, put it in reverse, and then shifted it to drive. But the transmission locked up. We turned it off and “rebooted” it several times. After all, that works for our laptop and iPhone. But, it wouldn’t shift into drive. In fact, it wouldn’t shift into park or neutral. It just stayed in reverse and the Fob key wouldn’t come out either. So, here’s where we had to leave it. <img src="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1yZxzn7CkUTBZR9bbn5-J35nexbzv48pm" alt="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1yZxzn7CkUTBZR9bbn5-J35nexbzv48pm" style="color: rgb(69, 81, 84); font-family: HelveticaNeue; font-size: 12pt; max-height: 80%; max-width: 80%; height: auto; width: auto;"></span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I went inside to research the transmission issue on the net. I found out that the transmission cable had broken. So in the morning, we have to call the Dodge place and have it towed the 20 miles tomorrow. I’m wondering if they or Dodge will pay for the tow. If not, I think our insurance might pay. At any rate, I’ve got to get it up there. </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In retrospect, we’re fortunate it didn’t move. Can you imagine up in those North Georgia mountain winding roads the transmission going out? It could have been dangerous and disastrous. </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I was mad and kinda depressed this morning. I was so looking forward to our mountain getaway. The temperature up there is currently 69°. Here in Appling, Georgia, it’s 95° and feels like 102 according to my Weather Channel app. Thank God for air conditioning! </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now that I’ve calmed down and had a nice nap, I can be thankful. That Scripture verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 comes in handy in disappointments like this. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”</span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I know, in the scheme of things, this is like flea on an elephant. I just had a friend post on Facebook that she has been in the hospital for eight days with a liver problem, and it’s possibly cancer. The fact our camping trip was wiped out is really nothing. </span></font></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><font color="#000000" face="sans-serif" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our camper van can and will be fixed. We plan on taking a camping trip to a nearby State Park at the end of this week to make sure the transmission works properly when our van comes out of the shop. Then, we will try Black Rock Mountain again. Joyce has made reservations there for the week of August 15. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">————————————————————————</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thanks for reading. Comments welcome and appreciated. Please like, share, and subscribe. </span></font></span></p>The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-90597965695171681782014-11-26T11:29:00.000-05:002014-12-05T20:13:31.132-05:00A Word Fitly Spoken<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/98/5c/0a/985c0a99858f5267fd771814c27ec4af.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/98/5c/0a/985c0a99858f5267fd771814c27ec4af.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There's nothing quite like an old-fashioned
Southern barbeque. I'm not talking about the barbeque that comes from a little
barbeque shack on a rural southern road. I'm talking about an
old-fashioned Southern barbeque like our ancestors had back in the 1800's. The
happy planned barbeque at the Wilkes place at Twelve Oaks from <i>Gone
with the Wind </i>comes to mind. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">That tradition is alive and well in the rural
South. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Back in the mid 1990's, I had the privilege to be
invited to July 4th barbecues at Kenneth Morgan's pond house in Edgefield
County, South Carolina. I was his pastor, and he always invited me and my
family for the festivities and to bless the feast. Ah, the benefits of pastoral
service!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kenneth loved people and his large extended family.
Several drove long distances for the gala occasion. It was an event not to be
missed. With Kenneth, the more the merrier! As I recall, fifty to sixty
or more gathered to share stories, laugh, and visit with those they hadn't seen
in ages. Real Southern stuff! </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kenneth was a great Southern host mixing and
mingling with family and friends making everyone feel welcome, and welcome we
were! </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mckillipscatering.com/files/2011/09/BBQchix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.mckillipscatering.com/files/2011/09/BBQchix.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Pit cooked </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">BBQ chicken</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kenneth
and some of the men stayed up all night laughing and telling stories while
slowly cooking the Q over an open pit. The men basted the chicken throughout
the night with a special home made Carolina sauce </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The ladies fixed all the sides and deserts. There was "Miss"
Angel's (pronounced with a short "A" like in "Ann." In the
South, you show respect to an older woman even if she's married by the title
Miss instead of Mrs." </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Well,
where was I? Oh yea. There was Miss Angel's real Southern</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.saveur.com/sites/saveur.com/files/2013-08/recipe_roses-caramel-cake_500x750_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.saveur.com/sites/saveur.com/files/2013-08/recipe_roses-caramel-cake_500x750_0.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> caramel
and red velvet cakes. They were to die for. Angel's husband, Mr. W.
C., made the hash. You gotta have hash with barbeque, and he made the
best. Edgefield County is known for its peach growing farms, and
fresh picked peaches abounded at fruit stands in the peach growing area. So,
the ladies made mouth watering peach pies and peach cobblers. Laid before us
were other assorted pies and cakes too. Someone always brought Southern fried
pies (Yankees call them tarts). They are dried apples or peaches wrapped in a
flour dough and fried). </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">One barbeque staple we always had was Carolina
rice. South Carolinians make rice like nobody else on the planet. It's
part of their culture from the old rice plantations on the coast in the 1700's.
Other sundry Southern sides filled the tables like baked beans, biscuits, fresh
corn on the cob, home made pickles, and fresh picked green beans out of
someone's garden cooked with fatback, and fresh picked big, plump, perfectly
ripened tomatoes. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There was always enough to feed the whole county it
seemed. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We all loaded our plates, People gathered on the
porch, in the pond, house, in the yard under the shade trees and ate until
we were about to pop. Then, we went back for more. The barbecued chicken
was so tender, it fell off the bone. We washed it down with a tall glass of
Southern sweet ice tea. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Then when we thought we couldn't eat another bite,
we grabbed a clean plate and piled it high with cake, pie, and
cobbler. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After dinner, we lazied around and fought hard to
keep from nodding off. There's nothing like a nap after a big dinner, but that
would have to wait later after we got home. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">nstead of napping, the men kind of gathered in
small groups to talk politics, catch up on family news, church news from near
and far, and gossip a little bit. The women segregated themselves as
they do in the South and cleaned up our mess and talked about whatever
women talk about. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After dinner on one of those happy 4th of Julys, I
was busily talking as preachers are wont to do and noticed that Johnny had left
us. I looked around and spotted him fishing on the far side of the
pond. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I had been praying for Johnny and thought of him
often. He had been raised in church but was no longer active. Oh, he
attended on occasion. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Here was my chance to talk with him privately. I
excused myself and made my way over to chit chat with him while he was
alone. I felt something was bothering him to cause him to miss the happy
post-dinner fellowship.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"You had any luck?" I asked. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"A few nibbles. Caught one not big enough
to keep," he replied.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To be honest, I thought he was a little annoyed in
that I had invaded his privacy. Sometimes, a man wants to be left alone to deal
with whatever he's dealing with. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So, we just stood beside each other in silence for
a while before I spoke not knowing quite what to say. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"We sure would like to have you in our
church," I said hoping to start a conversation. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"When I go, I like to go to my home church
where my mother and family go. I've been a member there all my life.
I'm not Baptist. I'm Pentecostal."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"That's good," I answered. Baptists
are a little dry compared to Pentecostals. I wish we had some of
that Pentecostal spirit."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">More silence. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Well," I thought, "that
bombed."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"You know Johnny" I said breaking the
silence, "It's important to go to church and get involved. For me, I
need the fellowship and encouragement. I know every church has their problems.
My church has problems as you well know. They all do."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Yea, my home church has issues too."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"But Jesus died for us, the church, and filled
it with misfits like me. Look at his disciples. They argued and fussed, but
Jesus loved them anyway. They were a band of misfits like you and me.
Know that you are welcome in our church. I'm always glad to see you when
you attend.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"And church gives us a chance to grow in
Christ too. The singing, the preaching of the Word of God, praying
for one another, and bearing one another's burdens."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"I'll think about it." He
responded. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Yes, please do and pray too."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I talked on a little while longer. I can't remember
everything I said. I think I had a prayer with him and excused myself. I
could tell he wanted to be alone. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I didn't think much more about our meeting beside
the pond. But obviously, he did. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Johnny soon started attending our church more
often. Later, he was there every Sunday. He moved his membership to our church,
and it wasn't long before the church recognized his gifts and made him a
deacon. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After six years of ministry with these fine
people, I had a melt down in a deacons meeting and resigned as pastor. Johnny
was the only deacon who tried to talk me out of it. But, I huffed off anyway.
Driving home, I realized my foolish and rash decision and regretted
it. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I kind of lost touch with Johnny. We'd see each
other from time to time on different occasions. But, we didn't get a chance to
talk much. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Recently, I was invited to officiate a wedding to
be held at Johnny's church, my former church. I was presently surprised to find that his wife was
there to operate the sound system. And where his wife is, Johnny is usually
there too. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">At the wedding reception-dinner, we sat together
and had an opportunity to catch up on family news. As we were about to depart,
Johnny told me some things that I'll treasure the rest of my life. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3itVmhsl8KrIFJhu3DnL6KOQlSMEtfBJxoUbFDgMAVxF2DJdu0zSp3c8QzsLH6TjwUnOTzurAKGpG_u3ew_m4Mo601CNfQG_t34arDC1kQukdcj7mBilIs3-z-dsTlCts32lEHyNKVo/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3itVmhsl8KrIFJhu3DnL6KOQlSMEtfBJxoUbFDgMAVxF2DJdu0zSp3c8QzsLH6TjwUnOTzurAKGpG_u3ew_m4Mo601CNfQG_t34arDC1kQukdcj7mBilIs3-z-dsTlCts32lEHyNKVo/s1600/photo.JPG" height="200" width="173" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: xx-small;">Me and Johnny</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Do you remember that 4th of July when I was
off by myself fishing?" He asked. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Yes," I answered. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"I felt that you came to me as a shepherd
seeking his lost sheep. You weren't pushy or condemning. You just came at
a time when I was really low and dealing with some stuff. I still remember some
of the words you said. That meeting by the pond almost twenty years
ago changed my life."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Johnny
and I became emotional. I had no idea what a few encouraging words had meant to
him - words that the Lord used to change his life. Amazing! It's like that
verse in Proverbs. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in
baskets of silver" (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+25%3A11&version=KJV"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Proverbs 25:11</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">).</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span> </div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I had a confession to make too. Something I had never done but should have done
a long time ago. I apologized for exploding, resigning, and huffing off at that
deacons meeting fourteen years ago. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I said, " I wish I could rewind
time and have a do-over."</div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then Johnny said, "Yes, we are both wiser today than we were back then." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Ain't that the truth," I responded. "It's like that old Amish saying, 'We get too soon old and too late smart.'" </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We hugged necks and vowed to get together again for a couples dinner somewhere. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What a night! What an experience! You just never know the effect of what a good word spoken in love has. The Bible says, "Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad" (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+12%3A25&version=ESV"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Proverbs 12:25</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">).</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO4kWUSeOEL9_W21pGJWiwOczmabHilMCHespJVAxszvHHjY6mFzsntCpQlnHFTWtAJUW5D33rZATbYtaCdjbU58HerUDwTpccKgzgVNZosHvDTm5pgaQNoqW3MfHXG3EeV07EuXH8m4/s1600/encourage-others.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO4kWUSeOEL9_W21pGJWiwOczmabHilMCHespJVAxszvHHjY6mFzsntCpQlnHFTWtAJUW5D33rZATbYtaCdjbU58HerUDwTpccKgzgVNZosHvDTm5pgaQNoqW3MfHXG3EeV07EuXH8m4/s1600/encourage-others.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span></span></span>C<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">ritical and judgmental words tear down and destroy people. Encouraging words spoken in love build up. Words have a tremendous effect for good or bad upon all of us. So, be a builder upper. Speak encouragement in the spirit of Christ's love for you. The effect can change the life of a person whose really low and dealing with weighty issues. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When two or three are walking together, it will be a much lighter load for isn't that what a brother and a sister are for?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Finish your devotion with "</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kaOkmJmxr0"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Standing in the Gap</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">" by Babbie Mason. Click the link or click the arrow on the imbedded YouTube video.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-61097922889920707602014-11-14T20:41:00.000-05:002014-11-14T20:41:56.001-05:00The Less Traveled Road<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: left;">I shall be telling this with a sigh</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/" name="16"></a><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left;">Somewhere ages and ages hence:</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/" name="17"></a><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td>Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/" name="18"></a><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left;">I took the one less traveled by,</td><td><a href="https://www.blogger.com/" name="19"></a><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left;">And that has made all the difference.</td></tr>
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-Robert Frost<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXszmUhRKsdn8tEkdUDTG1D5097BtqfSFDcMdhNl_TkdYKQ3_TFBLeGvyYWf_s7eNQMz8BhqktFm3eIDeOyUgPIvqbmnbxYuST7ZkhG-BoXGVYVfFKMrh3zPVG_CbxtBC3NPdTiyc1xpo/s1600/barn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXszmUhRKsdn8tEkdUDTG1D5097BtqfSFDcMdhNl_TkdYKQ3_TFBLeGvyYWf_s7eNQMz8BhqktFm3eIDeOyUgPIvqbmnbxYuST7ZkhG-BoXGVYVfFKMrh3zPVG_CbxtBC3NPdTiyc1xpo/s1600/barn.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;">Me, Roger, Denise</span></td></tr>
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It was a great mid-October weekend spent with Roger Kuehn and his friend, Denise Shoemaker, in Indian Mound, Tennessee, out in the middle of nowhere on the eastern ridge of the Cumberland Plateau near Sparta, Tennessee.</div>
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I served as Roger's pastor from 1976-1980 and we recently reconnected. He and Denise invited Joyce and I to visit with them and stay in their "Get-Away" cottage close to their log cabin. A lot of water has passed under the bridge in 34 years, and we enjoyed sharing our stories with one another. Denise and Joyce enjoyed getting to know one another too. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gKonpdMnS-bbxl9jb4lvts8fAxxysyO-S9dijeDnJ1Flc_SRf_owMiRJoKS6BtZB6ni29kegNyt8llQBa1lVlNXtgPGwZb2U538UrYtZaHgHcDS-F05S3IAWqcIeadI9kM6gl1Vk49g/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gKonpdMnS-bbxl9jb4lvts8fAxxysyO-S9dijeDnJ1Flc_SRf_owMiRJoKS6BtZB6ni29kegNyt8llQBa1lVlNXtgPGwZb2U538UrYtZaHgHcDS-F05S3IAWqcIeadI9kM6gl1Vk49g/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Cheyenne</span></td></tr>
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They own an American Paint horse ranch with 17 horses. Joyce loves horses and was in horse heaven. She fell in love with their frisky, cute four month old Philly, Cheyenne, and wanted to take her back to Appling. </div>
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In spite of the weekend rain, Roger and Denise<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaZqFNRfW_Cbqd8N4zUpMWvodFD7tqoibiocyH4PbHHxYUJEEkoSZ0rD2v6wGhRsocLrpOUBVSvdaATf2Rvl0Uh7bibvILGheHMxJZJLqjCILFMdf-Dkn_ewnBCaOTl7B_hC2S2Zzs-s/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaZqFNRfW_Cbqd8N4zUpMWvodFD7tqoibiocyH4PbHHxYUJEEkoSZ0rD2v6wGhRsocLrpOUBVSvdaATf2Rvl0Uh7bibvILGheHMxJZJLqjCILFMdf-Dkn_ewnBCaOTl7B_hC2S2Zzs-s/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Syrup Making Mill</span></td></tr>
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showed us the sights around the Cumberland Plateau mountains. Saturday, we went to Mennonite country in Muddy Pond, Tennessee. We enjoyed shopping in their quaint stores and got to see an old fashioned Sorghum Syrup making operation. Needless to say, we bought some of their sorghum syrup. My grandfather and I used to enjoy sorghum syrup over my grandmother's hot biscuits. You can't hardly find it any more in the grocery stores today. We took a scenic drive back to their place through the Calf Killer River Valley. Calf-Killer was a Cherokee Indian chief and the early pioneers named the river for him. <span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfxcZ9_FZsLAUd5a78D3ftBoyzVZRrmQ2ot0obg-p3aPdfRsaKJQNC3YwX7QUoakQrgpeahYmgHexZMarMm-aBaqKEGnFhHx9ifVKOGp0dDHMNBQeMPC0dg1D_QyKgGGmLo4F_HasZ_A0/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfxcZ9_FZsLAUd5a78D3ftBoyzVZRrmQ2ot0obg-p3aPdfRsaKJQNC3YwX7QUoakQrgpeahYmgHexZMarMm-aBaqKEGnFhHx9ifVKOGp0dDHMNBQeMPC0dg1D_QyKgGGmLo4F_HasZ_A0/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;">Center Hill Lake</span></td></tr>
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Sunday, we went with them to their church, Baxter United Methodist, and enjoyed a Tennessee mountain country service. After dinner at the Golden Corral in Cookesville, they took us on a sightseeing tour of the magnificent Center Hill Lake formed by the Caney Fork River of which the Calf Killer River is a tributary. That all flows into the Tennessee River. Roger took us up an old winding former wagon trail road. We had almost ascended to the top where a fallen tree blocked the road. Like 19th century travelers, we had to stop and move it out of the way before proceeding. </div>
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We said our goodbyes Monday and headed back to Georgia. </div>
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The trip to Tennessee via Interstates 20, 285, and 75 was awful. The Atlanta and Chattanooga traffic was absolutely awful. Nerve racking! So, we plugged in our GPS to go home a different route through the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and North Georgia. It was the road less traveled. </div>
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We drove through the rain and fog, but even that didn't dampen the gorgeous autumn drive through the winding, twisting mountain roads. We were on adventure and weren't disappointed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrCbY6HAnMa9c9xhvvEtpYBCUQWIL_F-wErlD7YNWlP4Zd-5hMcP11uzCn9RiRqhKlNoLaF4l0elY0WgTP66e3YlZP6Ylzk1SRShcF8TCw_bZOmlUGGjeZ3Qv1JpEGpsOM4P91WwtK78/s1600/AppleOrchard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrCbY6HAnMa9c9xhvvEtpYBCUQWIL_F-wErlD7YNWlP4Zd-5hMcP11uzCn9RiRqhKlNoLaF4l0elY0WgTP66e3YlZP6Ylzk1SRShcF8TCw_bZOmlUGGjeZ3Qv1JpEGpsOM4P91WwtK78/s1600/AppleOrchard.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>After traveling about 60 miles, we came up on Wooden's Apple Orchard near Pikeville, Tennessee. We had to stop. We loaded up on fresh picked apples and sweet potatoes to take home. They also had a restaurant serving down home Southern meals. I got the Salisbury steak, homemade fried okra, homemade green beans, and cornbread. All were just like my Mom used to make. Boy, was it good!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjZKTMN26W14ykzQDDPHayHNexG2n5Zunct-oA3qTvYryTLCzj2kx3UtFqk00BQMZaJWY-e8scvyaCGFg3vZr3s1PXd6RcgDMsbume8HUCAhX8F3y-dnD9a34QjMchCQMao9zuWVb7yE/s1600/WmJBryan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjZKTMN26W14ykzQDDPHayHNexG2n5Zunct-oA3qTvYryTLCzj2kx3UtFqk00BQMZaJWY-e8scvyaCGFg3vZr3s1PXd6RcgDMsbume8HUCAhX8F3y-dnD9a34QjMchCQMao9zuWVb7yE/s1600/WmJBryan.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;">William Jennings Bryan</span></td></tr>
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We continued out adventure and soon rode into Dayton, Tennessee. As we passed the courthouse, a historical marker caught my eye. THAT was the courthouse where the famous Scopes "monkey" Trial took place in 1925. Being the history nut that I am, we had to stop and look around. There in the courthouse lawn was a statue of one of my heroes, William Jennings Bryan who prosecuted the case for the State of Tennessee against John Scopes who was defended by the great agnostic lawyer, Clarence Darrow. Scopes broke the Tennessee law which forbad teaching evolution in the public schools. He was found guilty and fined $100. The trial gained international coverage. Bryan had run for President three times. Once, he ran as the Populist Party candidate with Tom Watson from Thomson, Georgia. Thomson is near Appling where we live. Bryan was an outstanding Christian statesman and an outspoken Christian. Unfortunately, the courthouse museum containing memorabilia from the trial was closed on the Columbus Day holiday. </div>
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After our surprise find in Dayton, we continued our journey home which included a scenic drive along the Ocoee River. </div>
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The road less traveled was filled with wonderful surprises and sure beat the maddening traffic in Chattanooga, Atlanta, and the congested interstates. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;">Wooden's Orchard</span></td></tr>
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And that's kind of the way it is on the Gospel Road too. It's the road less traveled. Jesus said, "Narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A14&version=NIV">Matthew 7:14</a>). The road to life is the road less traveled and is filled with surprises and adventure. Every turn leads higher and higher. Through the valleys, along the rivers, and stopping at the orchards to taste and see that the Lord is good is a pleasant journey away from the maddening world and culture so many follow. It is a journey along green pastures and waters flowing with the fountain of life. It is marked by the history of Calvary where our Savior suffered, bled, and died opening up for us the narrow road that leads to the abundant life now and life eternal. The Holy Spirit is our GPS leading us to our heavenly home. There's no other way for me. I'll take the road less traveled any day! Won't you?<br />
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Enjoy the "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOfIfEjec_s">Glory Road</a>" (Click the link) sung by the Gaither Homecoming Friends. Or, click the arrow on the embedded YouTube video.<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"></span></div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-16743981943393069562014-11-07T14:43:00.000-05:002014-11-07T15:03:55.455-05:00The Gift of Emotions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7LoeYzg8bEOWUxBmtjqC8gXOyzSH9N7DcKE0IuzRXemtRPdz8zAFyy32Z26115NP5DyuCfIwUasB8ndu8cA4G3kV42QR4xQ9ONFVTEBaA_mWxp6qhs5Arku-GqqgFeqheey7rGy5Rf8/s1600/emotions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7LoeYzg8bEOWUxBmtjqC8gXOyzSH9N7DcKE0IuzRXemtRPdz8zAFyy32Z26115NP5DyuCfIwUasB8ndu8cA4G3kV42QR4xQ9ONFVTEBaA_mWxp6qhs5Arku-GqqgFeqheey7rGy5Rf8/s1600/emotions.jpg" height="65" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Who doesn’t want to be happy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think most if not all of us have the wish
and desire for happiness in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
certainly do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But,
I know as you know that happiness is elusive because happiness is getting what
we want, and we don’t always get what we want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Happiness is a fleeting emotion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feeling doesn’t last long even when we
get what we want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Nevertheless,
we are s</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">upposed to be happy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our culture
fosters that idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once attended a
church service during a time when I was between pastorates. I was really
low.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so low that I was reaching up
to touch rock bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t need to
hear the worship leader say, “Some of you look sad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t look sad!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Come on everybody, how about a big smile to start the service today?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I felt like I just wanted to get up and leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My happiness machine was broken and wasn’t
going to generate any happiness for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to work through some things and get my mind and emotions around what
had caused my despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You can’t be happy when you’re sad even when
the worship leader tells you to be happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, I needed the freedom to feel all of my emotions pouring over me
which included anger, sad, loneliness, and hurt.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">God
made us emotional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are a gift. Receive
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Experience them fully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is part of what Jesus meant when
He said that He gives life fully and abundantly (John 10:10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Full living is to fully experience the
emotional pain of hurt, sadness, loneliness, and other emotions instead of self-medicating
with alcohol or building a wall around the heart to block the unpleasant,
painful ones. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Let
go and experience the emotion of hurt which speaks to our desire for healing
and wholeness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadness speaks to our
need to grieve and accept life on life’s terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Loneliness speaks to our deep desire for relationship with God and
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are not bad emotions but
good ones because emotions lead us to the understanding that we not complete
within ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Emotions
point us to our need for a love-relationship with God and true friends for
encouragement and support completing in us what is lacking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is what Jesus meant by a full,
complete and meaningful life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Emotions
tell us that we are alive and that life has meaning. I feel; therefore, I’m
alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">To
be alive is to experience the gift of emotions and understand what they are
telling us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Understanding them helps gives
life meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus certainly experienced
his emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t build a wall
around his heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wept at the tomb of
Lazarus. He hurt when thousands left him after feeding them. He experienced
loneliness in the Garden when he longed for his disciples to pray with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Gladness, as fleeting as it is, comes too
when we walk through the pain, listen to the heart, and fully feel all of the
emotions that make us human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
walked through grief, hurt, loneliness and much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gladness came and went and came again for
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He experienced his emotions deeply
and fully in his humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He showed
that all of our emotions mysteriously weave and work together making the heart
into a beautiful tapestry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">(Special
thanks to Chip Dodd’s insights from his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Heart-Chip-Dodd/dp/0615300359/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415386419&sr=1-1&keywords=voice+of+the+heart" target="_blank">The Voice of the Heart</a>.</i>) Click link to preview and order Dodd's book from Amazon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Click the arrow in the embedded video or click this link for "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHMjhz8aHTw" target="_blank">I Give You My Heart</a>" by Hillsong.</span></div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-91648195674548138672014-10-14T15:52:00.001-04:002014-10-14T15:54:55.477-04:00Stop Playing Nice!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A pastor friend of mine didn't want to confront a mean church member who was wrecking havoc in the church and his ministry. He believed that it was not the Christian thing to do. He wrongly believed that love for his enemies meant allowing himself to be pushed around. I tried in vain to explain to him that Jesus didn't play nice with the Pharisees. He was direct, confrontational, and even called them "white washed tombs" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23:27&version=NKJV" target="_blank">Matthew 23:27</a>).</div>
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With some people, you just can't play nice. In my beginning years of ministry, I had an evangelist tell me, "You've got to run over them before they run over you." That was harsh I thought. But he had seen me kowtowing to a member who was critical of the evangelist and of me receiving a love offering for him each night. The member said harshly, "One love offering for the week is sufficient. He's getting too much money with these every night offerings." </div>
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Nevertheless, the revival was a soaring success. We had to extend the meeting to an extra night. The church was packed every night. Many were saved and professed faith in Christ. The Sunday after the revival, I baptized about 12 new believers. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprmDI7bvqPejkSmwAMgEbalznsAeodt6l-FCXsz5vjPjEZVTv3MAGJhtP4VIXB1UwDJPrexZb0zk9kjeVzYc6f7KiCL9w9Dai9-NMe7YHVDMKai5fMFm-S7MMNN107HCpMTVrCrAC-G0/s1600/Misery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprmDI7bvqPejkSmwAMgEbalznsAeodt6l-FCXsz5vjPjEZVTv3MAGJhtP4VIXB1UwDJPrexZb0zk9kjeVzYc6f7KiCL9w9Dai9-NMe7YHVDMKai5fMFm-S7MMNN107HCpMTVrCrAC-G0/s1600/Misery.jpg" height="171" width="320" /></a></div>
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Such people like this sour member are stingy, mean-spirited, fault finders, and dream stealers. They are miserable and want you to be as miserable as they are! My dad used to say, "Misery loves company."</div>
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As a pastor, I felt it my God given duty to play nice with malicious, spiteful people in my church. Yes, there are those kinds of people in the church. Paul dealt with them often. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+5%3A11&version=NIV" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 5:11</a>, he says to not associate with such people. "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or <strong>greedy</strong>, an idolater<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-28466Q" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28466Q" title="See cross-reference Q">Q</a>)"></span> or <strong>slanderer</strong>, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people." <span style="text-align: justify;"> Church </span><span style="text-align: justify;">bullies fall into at least two categories in this list. They are greedy because they demand their own way instead of Christ's way, and they are slanderers because they are verbally abusive especially in their unreasonable demands. Confront them. </span></span>Get rid of them. Stop playing nice.</div>
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The "not nice" people in church demand their own way and weasel themselves into power positions in the church. Every church has power brokers who run the church. I have been blessed over the years to have godly, kind leaders who wanted the church to grow and go forward. On the other hand, I have had those in my church who were power brokers and resisted every program and ministry I began to try and increase and grow the kingdom of God in faith and in evangelism.</div>
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I remember a man who I knew to be a negative trouble making bully. The deacons felt he should be on the board because he had never served and was a life long member of that church. I begged and pleaded for them not to put him on the board and elevate him to a position of power. They did anyway. To make a long story short, he fought me in everything good I tried to do for the Lord and for that church to try and increase and grow the church. This contentious new deacon recruited others and persuaded his group that I needed to be fired. He recruited members who rarely if ever attended church to attend this business meeting to vote me out. He made the motion to fire me. The discussion that followed was ugly and hateful. Those who I thought supported me turned against me. But, many spoke out for me and against the motion. The vote was taken. About 30 percent voted to fire me. About 65 percent voted to retain me. The rest abstained.</div>
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The fall out from that meeting cleansed the church. Most of the mean-spirited members got madder and left. For a while, attendance was down, but then it took off as my programs, outreach, and ministry were implemented without resistance. The church grew like a wildfire! It was amazing.</div>
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You can't play nice with mean people. Paul advised Titus, "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Titus-3-10" id="en-ESV-29917" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">As for a person who stirs up division, <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-29917A" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-29917A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></span>after warning him once and then twice, <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-29917B" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-29917B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span>have nothing more to do with him,</span> <span class="text Titus-3-11" id="en-ESV-29918" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Titus+3%3A10-11&version=ESV" target="_blank">Titus 3:10)</a>. </span></span></div>
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Turning the other cheek doesn't work. I know, I know. Jesus said, "Turn the other cheek" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5:39" target="_blank">Matthew 5:39</a>). But, I think this has to be tempered with other words and actions Jesus said and did. Jesus taught in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A15-17&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 18:15-17 </a>to assertively confront the mean-spirited sinner. "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Matt-18-15" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-23743M" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-23743M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)"></span> just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.</span> <span class="text Matt-18-16" id="en-NIV-23744" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ </span><span class="text Matt-18-17" id="en-NIV-23745" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church;<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-23745O" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-23745O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a>)"></span> and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector." I take Jesus' word here to stop playing nice and get rid of them. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Matt-18-17" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Jesus' actions showed that He practiced what he preached with cruel, </span></span>divisive people. He confronted the malevolent, hypocritical Pharisees. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Matt-18-17" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Matt-23-26" id="en-NKJV-23945"><span class="woj">may be clean also.</span></span></span>" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23%3A25-26&version=NKJV" target="_blank">Matthew 23:25-26</a>). Calling these trouble makers extortionists isn't exactly turning the other cheek is it? "Turning the other cheek" must be tempered with Jesus' other words and actions. Jesus didn't play nice with mean-spirited people. Neither should you and I. </span></div>
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Such people do not edify and build up the church in love and service. They tear down. They are fault finders and gossipers. I have found that they are misers too. They oppose missions of any kind especially international missions. I have had churches to vote and send members for short term projects in third world countries. The vote was never unanimous. The miserly "not nice" members always voted against the mission. Then, they grumbled and complained about the waste of money of sending them saying that we should take care of people in our own community first. The issue was not really about the money because they really didn't want to take care of the needy in the community either. It was all about controlling the church.</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">I don't play nice with mean-spirited people who have somehow wormed themselves into church membership and positions of power. I don't back down. Jesus didn't. Paul didn't. They asserted and confronted the revilers and hateful people who did their best to block ministry and growth. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">It has been said "you choose who you lose." If the pastor and church leadership chooses to placate the mean-spirited </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">bullies, they have chosen to run off the kind hearted people of the church as well as choosing to </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">not reach out to others outside the church. After all, who wants to go to a church where a bullies run the programs and oppose what the purpose and mission of the church given to us by Christ? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">The wise, seasoned evangelist who told me over 35 years ago, "You've got to run over them before they run over you," bore the scars of a veteran's spiritual warfare. The longer I served as pastor, the more I </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">understood what he meant. It wasn't long before I had a real test. Would I play nice and let it slide or would I play hardball and confront? I think you know the answer. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">It's not easy. I've had gut-wrenching stress and sleepless nights dreading confrontation. It's not my nature nor do I think it is the nature of Christ. But for my own emotional and spiritual health and for the sake of the good and kind members of the church, I had to do it. Some battles I lost. Many I won. But in every battle, I emerged stronger, wiser, and better. </span></div>
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You can't play nice with bullies. </div>
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And, what about those who say mean things and and are cruel toward you at times? The same principles apply. I've even lovingly confronted my supervising principals in secular teaching jobs I've held. I remember a time when my principal embarrassed me in front of a parent. I feared her reaction when I confronted her later in a private meeting. It took great courage, but I wasn't written up or fired. In fact, she apologized. I think most people are like my principal. They want to do right by others. Sometimes, all it takes is a confrontation done in love, kindness, and cool headedness. </div>
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However, there are those who are mean-spirited 24/7. I call them people born in the "indicative kickative" mood. If it's a supervisor and loving gentle confrontation makes your situation worse, you may have to look for another job or position. If she/he is a "friend" or family member, and gentle assertive confrontation goes nowhere, you may have to severe the relationship no matter how painful that may be. It is better to live in peace alone than to constantly be at the butt end of hostility and unjust criticism. </div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Let the peace of Christ<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-29533A" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29533A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></span> rule in your hearts...You were called to peace.<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-29533C" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29533C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></span> And be thankful" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A15&version=NIV" target="_blank">Colossians 3:15</a>). To possess the peace, sometimes, you have to go into battle and stop playing nice. May God give you the strength, wisdom, and a kind heart to take up the shield of faith to protect you and to fight with the sword of the Spirit (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206:10-18" target="_blank">Ephesians 6:10-18</a>). </span></div>
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Click this link for "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytE8um04l24" target="_blank">You Are My Shield</a>" by Hillsong. Or, click the arrow on the imbedded video. </div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-9231981573341780702014-09-06T15:44:00.000-04:002014-09-06T15:53:15.850-04:00God's Strange Call to Failure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's a strange call from God. It's the call to failure. It is a call foreign to American exceptionalism which rewards success and throws failure in the trash heap. Failure is the antithesis of everything we've been taught and conditioned to believe since we were children. How strange that The Lord called us to fail! <br />
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Teachers don't teach it. They reward the successful student. When I taught in the public school, an ice cream party with a goody sack was held for honor roll students. They were privileged and got of class to participate in the celebration.<br />
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Coaches don't coach to lose. A team's failure will only be tolerated for a short time before fans clamor for his dismissal. College athletic directors and owners of professional sports teams won't put up with a coach who loses more games than he wins. There was even a popular saying several years ago. "Second place is the first loser."<br />
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Businesses don't reward failure. If a company loses money year after year, the CEO is replaced by the stockholders with someone who can make it profitable again.<br />
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Preachers don't preach failure either. How many sermons have you ever heard on God's call to failure? I can't think of a single one. Instead, it's all about overcoming failure to be the success God wants you to be. In fact, pastors who build bigger buildings, increase giving, and add members are often rewarded with even bigger churches and bigger salaries.<br />
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No husband and wife wants their marriage to end in the failure of divorce. On their wedding day, they dream of happiness, joy, and marital bliss.<br />
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Failure is not an option in our American culture. It is never recognized, never rewarded, and never held as a standard for others to follow.<br />
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As General George Patton famously said, "America loves a winner!" <br />
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It seems so odd and peculiar that God would call us to failure. It's so wrong. It's so out of the ordinary, and yet that's exactly what God wanted on one occasion for the Israelite army and His chosen people.<br />
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The strange call to failure is found in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+20%3A20-26&version=NIV" target="_blank">Judges 20:23-26</a>.<br />
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"<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Israelites went up and wept before the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-7078A" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-7078A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></span> until evening,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-7078B" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-7078B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span> and they inquired of the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>. <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-7078C" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-7078C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></span>They said, “Shall we go up again to fight<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-7078D" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-7078D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></span> against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?”</span><br />
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<span class="text Judg-20-23" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">The <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> answered, “Go up against them. </span><span class="text Judg-20-24" id="en-NIV-7079" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. </span><span class="text Judg-20-25" id="en-NIV-7080" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-7080E" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-7080E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></span> all of them armed with swords." </span><br />
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Can you imagine the consternation and confusion of the soldiers who survived this battle as they ran from the scene of slaughter where 18,000 of their comrades in arms lay dead? Can you imagine the hurt, disappointment, protest, and even anger they had toward God?<br />
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They must have said, "But God, you told us to go fight against the Benjamites when we asked you whether or not we should fight them. Why did you tell us to fight and not give us the victory? We were defeated, and You were the One who told us to go into battle!"<br />
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So, let me ask. Is every call from God a call to success. Is every task He sets us on going to end in victory? Can a victorious life be a failed life?<br />
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It takes a lot of time in meditation, counsel, and reflection to get over the shock of failure that God engineers. The heart can become bitter. Doubt in the Lord's goodness can drive out faith. But in such times, faith is all we have to hold us together. And faith always leads to hope as <b>God reveals</b> the purpose of his strange call to failure.<br />
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George Matheson(1842-1906) knew failure. He lost his eyesight at age 20. His fiancé broke their engagement. <br />
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One of the great hymns Matheson wrote, <em>"O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go"</em> contains these lines. "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">O Joy that seekest me through pain, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I cannot close my heart to thee; </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I trace the rainbow through the rain, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And feel the promise is not vain, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That morn shall tearless be."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Matheson also wrote a book of devotions, <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/thoughtsforlifes00math" target="_blank">Thoughts for the Journey</a>, </i>(which is available in a free ebook by clicking the link). He observed: </span>"Is there no such thing as a call to failure? What is it that God wants to perfect in us? Sympathy. How is sympathy made perfect? Is it in the number of my victories? No. It is in the number of my defeats. It is not in my gains but in my losses that make me human. My heart must go through the pathway of thorns. The cross has fitted me for sympathy with the crowd.<br />
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"It is not the powers but the difficulties of the great that inspire us. I get my wings from their night not from their sunshine. I make their clouds my chariot. I rise upon the step upon which they fall. It is not the footprints they left on the sands of time that impel me to follow. It is the spots where the footprints fail. It seems a strange thing that the temple of a holy life should have one gate not beautiful. Elijah had his depression. Moses had his temper. John, who saw heaven, had his moment in Samaria. I will take wing from their weakness. Get robed from their rags. I will rise from the spot where they wrestle. In the place where they flagged, I shall be constrained to fly."<br />
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Another reason God's call to failure is strange to us is because He wants to form the image of His Son in us making us complete and whole through the humility caused by failure. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our default position is pride. There was a time in my life that I was like the Israelites. I prayed and felt God calling me to "go into battle against the Benjamites." But, I failed miserably. Pride kept me </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">from</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> seeking a counselor. "After all," I thought, "I'm a pastor. I have helped others with my counsel. I am the pastor-counselor, and counselors like me have all the answers. I even took several counseling courses in seminary." I thought I didn't need anybody's help, but I was so wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I rationalized, "Why should I go to anyone else since I have all the answers?" So, I tried harder in my own strength and was crushed again and again when I tried to figure out my issues on my own that had brought me such pain and depression. But each time, I was routed on the field of battle like Israel. It was with enormous difficulty that I swallowed my pride and sought professional counseling and began in earnest seeking self understanding through long times of prayer, meditation, Scripture, journaling. Slowly, piece by piece, The Lord chiseled away offensive pride and self-sufficiency in me and wrought in me the grace of humility. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One of the many truths I learned was to put aside my prideful self-esteem. I learned instead to bask in God-esteem and accept His providence in that He was and is always working to bring good out of my failures including His strange call to failure. The call to failure </span>creates the image of Christ in me. Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Matt-11-29" id="en-NIV-23489"><span class="woj">will find rest for your souls (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+11%3A29-30&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 11:29-30</a>).</span></span></span><br />
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God sometimes makes us fail. He often engineers our failures. Why? "Before a downfall the heart is haughty, <span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><span class="text Prov-18-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">but humility comes before honor (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+18%3A12&version=NIV" target="_blank">Proverbs 18:12</a>). God created us to be dependent and to worship him. Pride and self-sufficiency is a barrier to what the Lord wants. He wants only the best for us, and His best intention for me and you is to rely solely upon Him through faith.</span><br />
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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+3:5-6">Proverbs 3:5-6</a>).<br />
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<span class="text Prov-18-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">Jesus said "the last (the humble) shall be first" (Matthew 20:26). No where was this truth demonstrated more emphatically than when Jesus humbled himself to the death on the cross followed by His exaltation to the highest place of Lordship over all. "</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A8-9&version=TLB" target="_blank">Philippians 2:8-9 Living Bible</a>). </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And what of the Israelites who God called to fail in Judges 20. After their resounding loss against the Benjamites, the narrative continues. "</span><span class="text Judg-20-26" id="en-NLT-7057" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Then all the Israelites went up to Bethel and wept in the presence of the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> and fasted until evening. They also brought burnt offerings and peace offerings to the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><span class="text Judg-20-27" id="en-NLT-7058" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">The Israelites went up seeking direction from the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>. The </span>Israelites asked the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>, “Should we fight against our relatives from Benjamin again, or should we stop?”<br />
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The Lord told them again to go and fight. Frankly, I don't know if I would have obeyed at that moment, but when you hurt from losing, you are receptive to what God says more than ever.<br />
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The Israelites did go to battle one more time. This time the result was overwhelming victory. <br />
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Before victory comes in our lives, God will humble us. Humility always comes before honor (<span class="passage-display-bcv"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+15%3A33" target="_blank">Proverbs 15:33</a>)</span> and before victory. Always. God may call you and me to failure to make us kneel before Him.<br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Humility reminds us to focus on what really matters, and what really matters is acknowledging that God is in control and not me. What really matters is acknowledging that God is in control and not you. </span><br />
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God is a jealous God and will have no other gods before Him including the god of self-sufficiency which we form into our own idol.<br />
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The way to peace, happiness, contentment, wholeness, and victory is often through God's strange call to failure.<br />
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As you ponder and meditate on God's strange call to failure, listen to <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU9aMUJrx1A" target="_blank">"Break Me, Lord,"</a></em> by the Heritage Singers. Click the link or click the arrow in the embedded YouTube video.<br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-81626560557419883642014-09-03T09:52:00.000-04:002014-09-03T09:54:53.117-04:00The Lord's Baseball Game<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Now Fred was a real baseball fan. He had been invited by the Lord to watch the game in the owner's box and sat next to the Lord. The Lord's team was at bat, and they were trailing 3-0. It was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs.<br />
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The batter named Love stepped to the plate. He swung at the first pitch and knocked a single because Love never fails.<br />
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Next up was Faith. He beat out a bunt and put runners on 1st and 2nd because Faith works with Love. <br />
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Batting third in the bottom of the 9th was Godly Wisdom. The devil tried to deceive him with a curve ball. Godly Wisdom looked it over. Ball one, the umpire called. Three more trick pitches but Godly Wisdom refused to swing at the sucker pitches. He walked, and the bases were loaded because Godly Wisdom never swings at what the devil throws.<br />
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The Lord turned to Fred and said, "I'm bringing in my star player now with the bases loaded." Grace stepped into the batter's box. Fred looked at Grace and said to the Lord, "He sure doesn't look like much!" The devil's team thought the same thing and relaxed thinking they had won the game. <br />
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The devil went into his wind-up, and threw a 99 mile per hour fastball. It was high heat. To the shock of everyone, Grace swung and connected. Grace hit the ball harder than anyone could have ever imagined. But the devil wasn't worried. His center fielder was fast and never missed a fly ball. He ran back, back, back to catch the ball and went up for the ball. But the ball went right through his glove, hit him on the head, and sent him falling to the ground. The ball bounced off his head and over the fence for a grand slam home run! The Lord's team won 4-3. <br />
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Then the Lord turned to Fred and asked him, "Do you know why Love, Faith, and Godly Wisdom could get on base but couldn't win the game?"<br />
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Fred replied, "No, I really don't know why."<br />
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The Lord explained, "If your love, faith, and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, Faith, and Wisdom will get you on base, but only my Grace can get you home."<br />
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Click this link or the arrow on the embedded video for the <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3UQ42qmiI8" target="_blank">Victor's Crown</a></em> by Darlene Zschech and Hillsong. <br />
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"The Lord's Baseball Game" is copied with my edits from <a href="http://www.joycepayne.com/" target="_blank">Evangelist Joyce Payne's</a> September 2014 newsletter, "Outpourings of Good News." Click on the link to go to her website. </div>
The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-64474096280732625712014-08-18T13:03:00.001-04:002014-08-18T13:20:10.196-04:00A Most Bizarre Promise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I love to watch God work in people's' lives. Even more, I love to experience His work in my life. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Gen-28-14" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Out of the abundance of our God's grace, mercy, and providence, he turns the hard times into immeasurable blessings. Only by the power of God can a hard stone turn into a pillow of blessing. That's what He did for Jacob, and I've witnessed this transformation in my own life as well as in the lives of others. I've also read about it in the biographies and accounts of Christians who had a stone for their pillow. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Gen-28-14" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Jacob fled for his life from his twin brother, Esau, after tricking their father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing. The blessing rightfully belonged to Esau, the older of the two brothers. When Esau discovered the deception, he became murderously mad and went after Jacob.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Gen-28-14" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Jacob was an unlikely candidate to receive the promise that God gave to his grandfather, Abraham, which wasn't fulfilled until the Hebrews occupied the Promised Land. But, God had said at the twins birth that the younger, Jacob, would inherit the promise instead of the older, rightful heir, Esau. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Gen-28-14" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">The working out of God's promise was fraught with doubt, drama and danger as is all the promises that God gives to us. Jacob's adverse situation caused him stress and anxiety. He was always looking over his shoulder. He was always looking back to try and detect any sign that Esau was closing in on him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Gen-28-14" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">On his way to Paddan Aram to find a wife among his people, Jacob laid down on the hard ground using a stone for his pillow. His sleep was fitful, restless, and taut with tension. He dreamed of a ladder with angels ascending and descending on it that caused him great anxiety. He woke up in terror. And exclaimed, <b>"</b></span>God lives here! I've stumbled into God's home! This is the awesome entrance to heaven!” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+28%3A10-12&version=NIV" target="_blank">Genesis 28:10-12</a>). Such a vision of glory would be anyone's nightmare. It is enough to send any mortal to his/her knees. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In that horror, Jacob heard the voice of God. "</span><span class="text Gen-28-13" id="en-TLB-661" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">The ground you are lying on is yours! I will give it to you and to your descendants" (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+28:13" target="_blank">Genesis 28:13</a>). This is one of the strangest promises ever conceived. The place of my humiliation, the place of my collapse, will become the place of my conquest.</div>
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It is not uncommon for a person in the hour of adversity to have hope and a vision of a better fortune. But this promise is different. It is remarkable in how bizarre it is. God said, "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ground you are lying on is yours!" T</span>here is a time coming in which your glory shall consist in the very thing which now constitutes your pain. <span style="text-align: justify;">Nothing could be more dismal to Jacob than the ground on which he was lying. It was the hour of his poverty. It was the season of his night. It was the seeming absence of God. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">But God declares that this rejected moment is to be the scene of his glory. "The<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> ground you are lying on is yours!" The </span>place of your prostration will be your paradise." There is no promise in the world so bewildering and yet so sweet to a distressed soul as this. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">The promise of God's deliverance from the dungeons of adversity and fear is dear, but it is not as precious as this promise! God turns my hard bed into a restful bed. His power turns my pillow of stone into the pillow of fire that rises above me giving me hope and direction. The hard ground and the disconsolate rock cradling my weary head will be my possession and comfort. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">When God says, "</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ground you are lying on is yours," </span><span style="text-align: justify;">this indeed is victory. It is the Easter after Calvary. It is the resurrection in grave clothes. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Ask the great ones of the past what has been </span><span style="text-align: justify;">the spot of their blessing. They will say, "It was the cold ground on which I once was lying." Ask Abraham. He will point you to the ram given for the sacrifice </span><bad id="2443" style="text-align: justify;">on Moriah.</bad><span style="text-align: justify;"> Ask Joseph. He </span><span style="text-align: justify;">will direct you to his prison. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Ask Moses. He will direct you to </span><span style="text-align: justify;">his deliverance from the death </span><span style="text-align: justify;">waters of the Nile. Ask Ruth. God built her monument of deliverance in the field of her toil. Ask David. He will tell you that his song came from the night. Ask Job. He will remind you that God answered him out of the whirlwind. Ask Peter. He will extol his submersion in the sea. Ask John. He will say it was the exile to desolate </span><bad id="2451" style="text-align: justify;">Patmos where Christ revealed Himself in glorious splendor. </bad><span style="text-align: justify;">Ask Paul. He will attribute his inspiration to the light which struck him blind. Ask one more. The Son of Man. From the cold ground on which He was lying, He </span><span style="text-align: justify;">arose to rule heaven and earth. From </span><bad id="2454" style="text-align: justify;">Gethsemane's hard </bad><span style="text-align: justify;">ground, He received His scepter of sovereignty. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.datavault.com/openchurch/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/I_Will_Lift_Up_M_4b73106922b8d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.datavault.com/openchurch/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/I_Will_Lift_Up_M_4b73106922b8d.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Likewise, my soul too </span><bad id="2455" style="text-align: justify;">shall</bad><span style="text-align: justify;"> receive the garland of honor through </span><bad id="2456" style="text-align: justify;">Gethsemane's agony.</bad><span style="text-align: justify;"> The cup of suffering that I prayed would pass me by </span><span style="text-align: justify;">will be formed into my trumpet. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">The hour of my loneliness</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> will crown me. The day of my depression will be transformed into a day of unsurpassable joy. My desert will break forth into flowers. The trees of my silent forest will clap their hands. My fearful place will become my place of courage to go forth into victory. My </span><span style="text-align: justify;">thorns will be roses. My valleys will be the hills from where my help from God arises. My crooked path will be made into a straight highway of holiness. T</span><span style="text-align: justify;">he shadows will flee as the Light of Life breaks over the Eastern horizon. My losses will be gain, and my tears of restless suffering will be refined by fire into gold. The voice of God coming to me on my rocky pillow will say, "My treasure is hid in the ground where I lay."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;"><span class="text Gen-28-13" id="en-TLB-661" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">“I am The Lord, the God of Abraham, and of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on is yours!" </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://img1.etsystatic.com/000/1/5441659/il_fullxfull.250954133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://img1.etsystatic.com/000/1/5441659/il_fullxfull.250954133.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;"><span class="text Gen-28-13" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">May your eyes of faith be opened to see that your hard ground of suffering is the ground of promise because God loves you and works in every adversity for your good and His glory. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;"><span class="text Gen-28-13" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Listen to Laura Story's beautiful song of confidence in the Lord's goodness titled "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc" target="_blank">Blessings</a>." Click the link. Or, click the arrow in the embedded video.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">The inspiration for my post came from George Matheson's inspiring book of devotions, <u>Thoughts for the Journey</u>, page 264 entry "True Victory Over Sorrow." Click the link to read online in adobe. <a href="https://ia600304.us.archive.org/15/items/thoughtsforlifes00math/thoughtsforlifes00math.pdf">https://ia600304.us.archive.org/15/items/thoughtsforlifes00math/thoughtsforlifes00math.pdf</a></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;"><br />Here is a link to download Matheson's entire book for free on Kindle. (See options in left corner box of this archive page.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/thoughtsforlifes00math">https://archive.org/details/thoughtsforlifes00math</a></span></div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-64293389000093039002014-08-06T10:39:00.001-04:002014-08-06T10:39:53.272-04:00The Hush of the Land<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ysuJK7OHmtEih0jFZyCXhzvZi5qfSakxNgjnoDCW1GnogRGOpwJap8kE6D3EgJ0hEXZO5UWH2dYNmal_a1-P6oeVFRlQkG2lWp9asSEC2wRi325iiCENtnbHA2lX171ARuMWSvzaDvc/s1600/DSCN0499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ysuJK7OHmtEih0jFZyCXhzvZi5qfSakxNgjnoDCW1GnogRGOpwJap8kE6D3EgJ0hEXZO5UWH2dYNmal_a1-P6oeVFRlQkG2lWp9asSEC2wRi325iiCENtnbHA2lX171ARuMWSvzaDvc/s1600/DSCN0499.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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My wife, Joyce returned to me August 4. On her flight home that day, she reflected on her nine days in the Montana Rocky Mountains Bob Marshall Wilderness riding horseback on the trail, camping, and experiencing the wonders of God's creation and love. Here are her reflections.</div>
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Sitting here on the plane, I know this trip was meant just for me. A gift from God. A spiritual renewal for me.</div>
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I can't say I "prayed fervently" every day, but I worshiped every day. Just praising God for the beauty, the sights, and His protection through the storms especially the time I was almost struck by lightning high up on the trail which split a tree and set it on fire. To not be afraid for in Him, I found my strength. To <i>see</i> with my own eyes the "grander"work of the Creator God. Yes, it was my "Experience of the Best." How grateful I will always be for this.</div>
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I came to realize that love should be given away - for in giving you receive. God gives the beauty and wonder of the mountain wilderness, and I received.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BLVtLTjrOlXsD06VuA4hvs3KhRzPeo0ZZTTTQUemEdmUVeSzWWjhJpTC288I2OJqLqB4_P7xoShbtOlV54UlshWipWYDfJr98B_GAhQv9a_L12Jevt9LfN-DXCpRfMOYA3EfSToCxto/s1600/DSCN0460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BLVtLTjrOlXsD06VuA4hvs3KhRzPeo0ZZTTTQUemEdmUVeSzWWjhJpTC288I2OJqLqB4_P7xoShbtOlV54UlshWipWYDfJr98B_GAhQv9a_L12Jevt9LfN-DXCpRfMOYA3EfSToCxto/s1600/DSCN0460.JPG" height="200" width="188" /></a>I rode horseback about 86 total miles over my eight days in the wilderness according to Mark, our trail ride leader. I really enjoyed it. It was hard, but I enjoyed it. I lost weight. I don't know how much if any, but I am down to my last belt notch. So, I lost in inches for sure.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjl2WaHwDqseTEa8gH-y8ghXIz8FbIx_r2hlv8dso0RRRdZMWEyxQSwwHr_VSJ14ibk7FwWK_FnKqTgxLHD_CdziyEw2pD_1h5AjCsqPJPYnVA7gpV_cwb8qBkzjeceJRkGjfup4yDSp0/s1600/DSCN0455.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjl2WaHwDqseTEa8gH-y8ghXIz8FbIx_r2hlv8dso0RRRdZMWEyxQSwwHr_VSJ14ibk7FwWK_FnKqTgxLHD_CdziyEw2pD_1h5AjCsqPJPYnVA7gpV_cwb8qBkzjeceJRkGjfup4yDSp0/s1600/DSCN0455.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>I gained a deeper respect for our forefathers and the courage and strength it took to settle the West. I talked with Sandy last night at dinner around the camp fire. Her husband was a Lutheran pastor, and she recently lost him due to Alzheimer's. She questioned if she had strength. I responded and told her that if she did this trip, she had the same stuff our forefathers did to settle this wild country. She did the same things - rode hard and camped! Yes, she had strength to face life without him. A weak woman couldn't have rode the trails and camped in a tent day after day.</div>
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So with the trip at its close, I have these reflections.</div>
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No matter where you are, God is with you.</div>
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No matter what, God directs your footsteps.</div>
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He is the Creator. His "Eden," His Earth" is proof.</div>
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He reminds us to acknowledge Him in all things.</div>
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His love for me is beyond my understanding.</div>
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His desire is to bless.</div>
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And most of all, I <i>must</i> do like Jesus, and on occasion, go to the "mountain" to reflect and to pray in order to reconnect so I can go back to the "valley" a stronger person - a person full of faith and love.</div>
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Being in the "wilderness" puts everything else away. It's you and the land and God - nothing else to distract you. There you can hear His voice in the "Hush of the Land." </div>
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Joyce went with the Bob Marshall Wilderness Outfitters owned by Connie and Mack Long who are also guides on the trip. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BMWOutfitter/info" target="_blank">Click this link</a> for their Facebook page. </div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbXvCZfiOVM" target="_blank">Click this link</a> with Rocky Mountain scenes and the beautiful hymn rendition of "For the Beauty of the Earth" performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or click the arrow on the imbedded video.</div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-57234949145438587082014-08-02T16:15:00.000-04:002014-08-02T16:16:27.892-04:00The Guilt Game - Don't Play It<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://adhdmomma.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/finger-pointing1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://adhdmomma.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/finger-pointing1.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a></div>
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Do you allow others to control you by guilting you? Do you change your plans or feel shame and inferior because someone poured the hot grease of blame and shame down your back?</div>
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Shame and blame are cruel weapons to manipulate people into doing and into thinking ideas that you are reluctant to do and that are against your better judgment by a person who desires to control you. Controlling people throw guilt to make you feel bad for the purpose of ruling you which fulfills their sick need for power. And in some cases, they simply want you to feel indebted to them in order to make you serve them. </div>
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Jesus refused to play the throw and catch guilt game. To maintain your integrity and identity, you and I need to decline playing that game too. </div>
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The Pharisees couldn't control Jesus by guilting Him. Oh, they tried and used every weapon in their arsenal. But, they couldn't control him. He knew who he was and is, and therefore, He was confident in his actions, teachings, and thoughts. His Father affirmed his identity by saying on several occasions, "This is my beloved Son" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+3%3A17%2CMatthew+17%3A5%2CMark+1%3A11%2CMark+9%3A7%2CLuke+3%3A22%2CLuke+9%3A35%2C2+Peter+1%3A17&version=ESV" target="_blank">Matthew 3:17</a>).</div>
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Both His opponents and friends tried guilting him into submission. Their fiery attacks were powerless against him.</div>
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Their are numerous instances in the Gospel narratives that show how Jesus refused to play the throw and catch guilt game both with the Pharisees and with his disciples.</div>
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One example is found in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+15">Matthew 15</a>. The Pharisees were infatuated with their love for power and control. Anyone who questioned or threatened their dominant position had to be quickly eliminated, discredited, or silenced.</div>
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Jesus was their biggest threat as more and more people followed and listened to His message of hope, forgiveness, and love which was the antithesis of the Pharisees legalism based on making people feel guilty. </div>
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But, the Pharisees weren't alone in their thirst for power and significance. It was desired by Jesus' disciples.</div>
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Jesus' disciples wanted power too as evidenced by James and John's desire to sit on the right and left hands of Jesus in His kingdom. They coveted power and authority. And, the disciples did not want to upset or embarrass these power-brokers and be shunned by them. They questioned Jesus when He challenged the Pharisees and teachers of the law.</div>
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Here's the incident that embarrassed the disciples from Matthew 15 with my comments.</div>
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"Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 'Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat.'" In effect, the Pharisees were saying, "We want to control you. We will control you by throwing the mud-ball of guilt at you. You and your disciples don't wash their hands like the Law of Moses says you should do. It's Bible. It's in the Old Testament. Wash your hands before you eat! You're not obeying the Bible. Obey the Bible and wash your hands! Do what we say or your guilty of breaking the commandment."</div>
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You see, the real issue was not obeying the Bible. The real issue was that they couldn't control Jesus so they threw some Bible-guilt at Him in an effort to rule over Him like they did everyone else. If they could control Him here, then they could control Him in other ways until they had total mastery over Him.</div>
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Have you ever had the Bible thrown at you? I have. Here's one instance out of many. After a sermon I preached, a church member came up to me and and spread the shame manure all over me. She said, "And you call yourself a preacher!? My Bible says divorce and remarriage is adultery! How can you stand up there and preach?" The issue was not my divorce and remarriage but a sermon I preached that this woman didn't like. I explained to her my basis for what I had said and my interpretation of the passage that she intercepted differently. When she failed to win me over to her point of view, she threw the old guilt slime ball at me using God's Word no less just like the Pharisees did to Jesus. I refused to catch it! She huffed off mad as an old wet settin' hen and gave me the silent treatment for a few Sundays. She even went out of the sanctuary's side door rather than the front door to avoid shaking hands with me.<br />
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People like this lady and the Pharisees misuse the Bible to throw guilt and rule over the person they seek to control.</div>
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Going back to the dialog along with my comments on Matthew 15, how did the disciples throw guilt at Jesus? </div>
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"Then the disciples came to him and asked, 'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?'" They were in effect exclaiming, "Good grief! Do you know what you just did? You've ticked off the religious rulers! We'll never be accepted by them. Why did you do that? Don't do it again or we'll be outsiders forever!" They threw guilt at a Jesus, but he refused to catch it!</div>
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Jesus' closest friends wanted to control him through guilting Him and trying to make him feel bad so He wouldn't embarrass them again in front of the Pharisees. As with all guilt-throwers, their concern was with them themselves and not with Jesus. It's always about them and not you!</div>
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Think back over the past about significant guilt-throwers who controlled you through guilt and how you turned into a people-pleaser at the expense of you own personhood. I'm thinking of my mom and dad. They were professional ball players in the guilt game. They no doubt learned the game from their parents. I recall an incident when Dad and I were working in the yard. I didn't want to be there. I wanted to play with my buddies in the football game going on down the street. I didn't put my heart into weeding my section of the yard. Dad got madder and madder at my half-hearted attitude and threw the old guilt ball at me. "You'll never amount to a hill of beans!" Well, it worked! I didn't want dad to think badly of me and renewed my efforts to finish the job so I could go and play. Guilt is a powerful inducement to spur action. </div>
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Yes, guilt motivates, but it is a poor motivator. </div>
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What balls of guilt have been thrown at you in your past? What is being thrown at you in the present? How does it make you feel? Here are a few from the guilt-throwers bucket of balls.</div>
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"If you loved me you would...</div>
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If you really cared about me, you would ...</div>
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If you were my friend you would not have done that…</div>
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I have done so much for you, so why can’t you do this small favor?</div>
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How could you do that?"</div>
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Who throws guilt at you? A parent? A child? A boss? An employee? A "friend?" A "pile on the guilt" preacher? Who?</div>
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I think the worst guilt thrower was a kid I taught. He had his parents under his thumb. He completely controlled them. If he didn't get his way, he threw his nuclear bomb at them, and it worked every time. He would say, "I'm just going to go out and kill myself. You make my life miserable." And one time, he did half heatedly attempt suicide by cutting himself. His concerned parents rightly put him in therapy, but he still dropped the nuclear bomb on them when it suited his purpose. I don't know what became of that boy after he left my school. But, launching the suicide nuclear bomb of guilt is tough to handle. It's beyond my training and education in psychology to know the answers. All I know is that it worked for this kid. A psychiatrist probably has good counsel on dealing with the suicide guilt-thrower. But I do know this. It is the most powerful way to induce guilt and gain control that there is.</div>
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Guilt throwers use guilt to control you and get you to do the things they want you to do. They use guilt to manipulate you by condemning, judging, disapproving, threatening, blaming, and expressing disappointment in you. They will give you the "silent treatment" wanting you to feel miserable in order to give into their demands. They want you to do what they want you to do. They huff off wanting you to run after them and apologize for some slight they perceive is wrong. They throw false guilt at you in order to manipulate you to see things their way. They know how to pull your strings and press your buttons.</div>
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A long while back, I purposely played the throw and catch guilt game with my wife. We were in the grocery store. Every time that she put something in the buggy, I made her feel guilty. I said things like, "Are you sure you want that? This brand is better. I really don't like that. Can't you find something that I like for a change instead of what you like? We have spaghetti every week. I'm tired of it." I manipulated her like a puppet on a string. She began to question her good judgment and put items back on the shelf and then put in the basket stuff that I wanted. After about five or ten minutes playing my game, I told her what I was doing. Fortunately, she didn't knock me over the head with a bottle of spaghetti sauce. She laughed. I laughed, and we talked about it. Both of us suffered from guilt throwers in our past and in our present. We resolved not to catch the guilt thrown at us from anyone again! It's liberating.</div>
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Are you a guilt-catcher? If you are, you probably hate and punish yourself and feel out of control over your life because the guilt-thrower is ruling you. Worse, to atone for this false guilt, a guilt-catcher ramps up his/her efforts to please the guilt-thrower resulting in more self-hate because of his/her weakness in allowing the guilt-thrower to control and manipulate him/her.</div>
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The truth is that you can't please guilt throwers no matter how you attempt to satisfy them. You always come up short. They will always find fault with you. Nothing you do or say will please them! NOTHING! </div>
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So, how do you quit playing their guilt throw and catch game?<br />
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Here are a few practical suggestions. </div>
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Ask the guilt-thrower questions like, "You are not trying to make me feel guilty are you?,</div>
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Make statements like, "I'm not catching that guilt ball you're throwing at me any more."</div>
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Or something like this, "Just because I won't give you the money doesn't mean I don't love you. It's just that I don't want to." </div>
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You don't have to justify or rationalize what you say, do, or don't do to a guilt-thrower because nothing satisfies him/her. Your responsibility is to yourself. You lose your dignity, self-respect, and self-esteem when you allow others to guilt you into behavior you don't want to do. You will never receive affirmation from the guilt-throwers because they will always find fault with you like the Pharisees did with Jesus. You lose your self-hood when someone else controls you. </div>
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Remember the examples that Jesus left for us. He REFUSED to be manipulated by guilt-throwers. He refused to play their game of throw and catch. </div>
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My prayer is for the image of Christ to be formed you. The Father wants to form the image of the Son in you through the Spirit of Christ living in you. Let him. Refuse to allow others to make you into their image by guilting you to conform to their way of thinking or acting the way they want you to act. Don't catch that guilt ball and be loaded with that miserable feeling of false guilt. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit of Christ who gives strength to you to stand against those who guilt you through condemnation, judgment, and disapproval. </div>
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Know who you are in Christ. Know who Christ says you are. (Click on this link to understand <a href="http://revdanwhite.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_4068.html" target="_blank">"The Real You"</a> for my articles on this blog about who Christ says you and I are). </div>
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Know that you are forgiven of every bad thing you ever did and every bad thought you ever thought. You are cleansed by the blood of Christ. There is no guilt because He took it away. "But he was wounded for the wrong we did;<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Isa-53-5">he was crushed for the evil we did. </span></span><span class="text Isa-53-5">The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, a</span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Isa-53-5">nd we are healed because of his wounds</span></span>" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+53%3A5&version=NCV" target="_blank">Isaiah 53:5</a>).</div>
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Christ makes us righteous - to be right and to do right. Guilt-throwers imply that you are ‘bad.’ To them, you have done something bad, missing something, not doing or being enough, and you don't measure up in their eyes. <br />
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Since Christ has made you good (righteous), don't let someone drag you through the muck. "For God made Christ, who knew no sin, <i>to be</i> sin for us, that we might become the <strong>righteousness</strong> of God in Him" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+5%3A21&version=NKJV" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:21</a>).</div>
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Jesus refused to catch guilt thrown at Him because He knew who He was and is. Knowing who you are in Christ and how to recognize and respond to guilt throwers will get you out of the throw and catch guilt game and into the affirmation and peace only Jesus gives! </div>
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And remember this, Jesus sets you free from guilt and shame. He forgave and forgives us by taking our guilt and crucifying it on the cross. You are liberated. Therefore, refuse the guilt from those who seek to manipulate you through shame, blame and guilt! </div>
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Jesus' forgiveness sets you free! The Scripture says, "Jesus is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and <strong>forgave our sins</strong>" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1%3A7&version=TLB" target="_blank">Ephesians 1:7</a>).</div>
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May you live in freedom from guilt and shame through the kindness and grace of Jesus. That's what He wants for you so much that He gave His life, bore your guilt and shame, and suffered death for you and me. Amen.</div>
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<em>Click the following link to hear, see, and meditate on what you have read and what the Lord is speaking to you. </em></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-8QdOxzh5Y" target="_blank">"By His Wounds"</a> by Steven Curtis Chapman or click the arrow on the imbedded YouTube video.</div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-35904840920799656702014-07-28T09:54:00.000-04:002014-07-28T10:04:02.086-04:00A Tribute to My Wife<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2u67vSrv6Ys/U9ZADBA2TbI/AAAAAAAABwI/qrQDifIZCSQ/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2u67vSrv6Ys/U9ZADBA2TbI/AAAAAAAABwI/qrQDifIZCSQ/s1600/image.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;">Joyce with guide, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;">Connie, before disappearing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;"> into the Montana </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;">Rockies for 8 days</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I miss my wife. I missed her terribly. Her 5:30am flight out of Augusta was canceled. We both teared up thinking her dream trip was doomed. We will never book a flight out of Augusta again! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Fortunately and after prayer, she was rebooked and confirmed out of Atlanta for her trip. I took her to the
Atlanta airport to go on her Montana Rocky Mountain wilderness adventure on
Friday, July 25. She arrived in Missoula, Montana that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the guides picked her up Saturday
morning from the Marriott, and they drove to the trail head that begins the Bob
Marshall Wilderness. They saddled their horses and along with three pack mules
and five staff personnel, her group set off for the adventure she has longed
for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She'll return August 5th. That's 11 long days. I say long
days without her. It's the longest we've ever been apart in our thirty years of
marriage. I thought I'd be OK. I encouraged her to go. "Fulfill your
dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seize the moment while you've
still got your health. I'll be all right."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She deserved a break. She works hard. She's a <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+31%3A10-31&version=NIV" target="_blank">Proverbs 31</a>
wife. I don't deserve her. Out of God's overflowing grace and mercy, He brought
us together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some reason
unfathomable to me, she said, "Yes," when I popped the question. I
was a broke, broken preacher. My life had collapsed. I was selling cars and
serving a small rural church near Augusta, Georgia, when we met. She was a
nurse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good benefits. She owned a home and a car. I
owned nothing. She said, "Yes."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even after thirty years, I still can't believe it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> have to confess. After all, they say confession is good
for the soul. I have to confess I take her for granted sometimes. I just assume
she'll always be there for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't
show my gratitude and love like I should. You see, not only does she work as a
nurse, but she runs the household too. I try and pitch in, but she does the
lion's share or should I say the lioness' share of work around here which
allows me to write, study, minister to my church, and teach part time at a small
Christian school.</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggspfIbbAvjIzvhrdBTVsYBQx7uxGH2fC-Bzeo1OSj0CRDXgp0MXrAJJKOt0oo-f47-Wbivb4rrgcE4LyxsgLpWPV76NP5lh-pzFWZDGkNRcba6BiNIautPU_ZYXknnehyphenhyphenoudJHKmmidc/s1600/ChineseWall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggspfIbbAvjIzvhrdBTVsYBQx7uxGH2fC-Bzeo1OSj0CRDXgp0MXrAJJKOt0oo-f47-Wbivb4rrgcE4LyxsgLpWPV76NP5lh-pzFWZDGkNRcba6BiNIautPU_ZYXknnehyphenhyphenoudJHKmmidc/s1600/ChineseWall.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: xx-small;">Bob Marshall Wilderness</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: xx-small;">Chinese Wall. Joyce will be </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: xx-small;">camping on the summit</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Joyce wanted to get away. And what a place to get away to.
She<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span> wanted to feel the creation and majesty of God speaking through the
mountains, gurgling in the clear mountain streams, and whispering through the
forest trees. She wanted to count the stars. Hear the silence before drifting
off to sleep snug in her sleeping bag. She wanted to eat cakes on the griddle
beside the morning campfire. And, she's finally doing it. Or should I say
"being it."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For such an
experience is not doing but being, renewing, and worshipping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I imagine it's as close to heaven as a person
can get.</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She left without me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We who do everything together are now apart. It feels weird to me. She
kind of wanted me to go but really wanted to do this on her own. However,
sleeping on the ground under a tent, bathing in a cold Montana creek, and
riding a horse on a trail like a frontiersman isn't my idea of getting away
from it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like a first class hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like nice restaurants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like riding on a tour bus with a guide and
making sightseeing stops. I guess I'm a spoiled softie. My wife is a rugged
pioneer women who can shoot a gun like Annie Oakley. I saw her shoot a snake in
the grass one time and split the slithering creature in two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God pity the robber that breaks into our
house when she's home. Now me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't
even know which end of a gun to hold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm happy for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When she's happy, I'm happy. Isn't that what marriage is supposed to
be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you share a joy, the joy is
doubled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But, I'm not so happy without her. I thought I'd be OK, but
it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. Fortunately, my son and
grandchildren are with me for a few more days. But they will be leaving to go
home in Alabama before Joyce gets back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I also have "mans best friend with me."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my Sheltie can't replace my precious
wife. Not even close.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When I awoke this morning, the first thing I did was reach
for her. All I got was her pillow. My first thoughts were of her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The time zone she is in is two hours behind
mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I imagined her sleeping in camp. I
wondered where she was and thought of where she might be going today. I look at
our bird feeder and saw her filling it up with bird seed and the dogs chasing
behind her. I saw her on the couch last night reading from her Nook that I gave
her and watching a Hallmark channel movie or an old John Wayne western. She
loves those old westerns. When I was preaching yesterday, I saw her sitting in
her usual place with her encouraging and supportive eyes. I see her everywhere.
I miss her. I miss her greatly. There's a hole in my heart. I can't imagine
life without her, and when I try, loneliness encases me. I don't know what I'd
do without her or what I'd be without her. I don't even want to think about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I hope the Lord takes me before He takes her. I hope He
takes us together. She does too. I sort of understand now - better than I did -
about the loss of a lifelong spouse. I've preached a lot of sad funerals and
looked upon the grief stricken widow or widower. I really didn't know how they
felt or what they faced. I preached the funeral of my beloved uncle. He and my
aunt had had a happy, life long marriage. When I visited with her some time
after the funeral, she said that she slept in his shirt. It made her feel close
to him. Like he was still there. That has to be the darkest, loneliest valley
to walk. I don't even want to think about it. I don't know how I'd survive. I
think I'd feel like a widow does in India when widows once threw themselves
upon her husband's funeral pyre and left with him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And another thing, I really don't know how people make it
without Jesus and the sure hope of our resurrection and life with him and life
with those who have gone before. I don't know how they make it through without
his comfort and assurance. He is life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>"I give them eternal life" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10:28" target="_blank">John 10:28</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Joyce will come back to me, God willing. Her absence has
made my heart grow fonder for her. It's made my love her more in ways that I
never have before. I can't wait for her to come home. I'm going to celebrate
her return. Flowers will be waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I'll clean the house. Straighten up my disarrayed office which drives
her crazy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'll give her big kisses and
hold her and never let go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'll never
take her or her love for me for granted again. I'll appreciate the little
things she does for me like never before. She is the love of my life given to
me by the grace and mercy of my Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
but she surpasses them all!”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLWD2WIvRQk" target="_blank">Rocky Mountain High</a>" by John Denver. Click on the link or the arrow to play on YouTube. </span><br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-76961305997607494022014-07-17T15:06:00.000-04:002014-07-17T15:16:47.339-04:00A Message from the Birds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sitting here this morning in my screened in man cave, I watch the cardinals, tufted titmouse, hummingbirds, and house finches busy themselves at the bird feeders. The mocking bird who built her nest in a bush next to the garage sits on top of the feeder singing away. Sweet songs rise in chorus from all of them as God summons the first light of morning. It's an ethereal experience.</div>
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The happy birds are fed from a harvest they did not sow. They build their nests from materials they did not purchase. The momma birds lay their eggs, and together they raise their chicks from the bushes around our house that they did not plant. The Heavenly Father provides for them.</div>
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It's a beautiful picture of God's providential care for me through the years.</div>
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This morning's scene caused my mind to drift back to a moment 38 years ago. I was 35, and in seminary just a semester from graduating. I had a wife and was responsible for them. I worked the graveyard shift as a psychiatric technician at a hospital in downtown New Orleans. I caught the bus each night and morning to make it to my 8 o'clock class where I fought to stay awake. I could barely pay the bills and wondered how I could enroll in my last semester.</div>
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As I got off the bus that morning, I wanted to quit and work two jobs and then enroll and try to finish. I was overwhelmed with anxiety and doubt. "How could I make it? How could I finish?" These thoughts rushed like a torrent from a New Orleans summer thunderstorm. "No, I can't go on. No I can't make it! It's too hard. It's not fair to my family or to me!" </div>
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But if I quit, I couldn't stay in the seminary's subsidized housing. Rent in New Orleans was double what I was paying. I was in a conundrum. I tried to check the tears welling in my eyes but couldn't. All I could see was what I didn't have. All I could feel was gloom and hopelessness.</div>
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I stepped on to the beautiful landscaped campus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I loved the place. I loved the professors. I loved my classes. I soaked in their teachings like a hungry sponge soaks in water. But, I couldn't go on. I didn't have the resources or strength to finish. There was never enough.</div>
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As I walked through the moss draped oaks surrounded by manicured grass and beautiful flower gardens, God spoke. Softly at first and then loud and clear.</div>
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I couldn't see, but I could hear.</div>
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I heard rejoicing happy songs. The songs of the morning came through and into my troubled heart. They were the songs from God's winged creatures singing praise to Him for a new day! </div>
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I stopped in my tracks and just listened. God spoke to me assuredly and affirmed me. He miraculously brought me to the seminary, and He would see me through to the end. </div>
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The morning symphony led me Jesus' words of comfort and care. “<span style="color: red;">Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" </span><span style="color: black;">(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A25-26&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 6:25-26</a>).</span></div>
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The storm calmed. The sun came out. Yes! The heavenly Father feeds the little song birds. He provides all their needs. None go without. They don't have a worry in the world. They are not bound by fear or doubt. From their unfettered freedom, they sing with joy to their Creator and Provider.</div>
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Faith rose within me. I saw the new morning in a different light. Doubt gave way to faith. Songs of praise welled up within me. Everything would be OK. And, it was.</div>
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Nothing changed in my difficult financial straits. There was no money that came floating in from heaven to my mailbox. But, I finished seminary and was soon called to a wonderful church in the Florida panhandle that had a practically new four bedroom parsonage. I was thankful to say the least.</div>
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I don't know what would have happened had God not spoke to me that morning. As low as I was, I probably would have quit. My life would have been derailed from the road God had placed me on and His purpose for me at least for a time and maybe for a long, long time. </div>
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There have been other low points in my life when God spoke through his winged creatures. Each time, I went back to that decisive morning in New Orleans. I remembered his voice. His comforting chorus promising adequate provision. His providential care of me and my family. And each time I remembered, the calm peace of that morning gave me courage to keep on keeping on. "It would be OK. Everything will work out." And it did. God never let me down. </div>
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I was a young man then. I'm a senior citizen now, and I can testify as David did, "I was young and now I am old, <span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-37-25">yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken </span></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-37-25">or their children begging<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-14476B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup> bread" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+37%3A25&version=NIV" target="_blank">Psalm 37:25</a>).</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://marybethbutler.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c7c8e53ef012876aa04c1970c-pi" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://marybethbutler.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c7c8e53ef012876aa04c1970c-pi" /></a></div>
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<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-37-25">Said the robin to the sparrow, 'I should really like </span></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-37-25">to know </span></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-37-25">why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.’ Said the sparrow to the robin, 'Friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.'" </span></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Ps-37-25">- Elizabeth Gowen Chaney (1859)</span></span></div>
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Finish your devotion with Ethyl Waters testimony and then singing her classic, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAmSTWcja0M" target="_blank">His Eye Is on the Sparrow</a>" at a 1975 Billy Graham Crusade. Click on the link or click on the arrow below.</div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-80371019763946490622014-07-04T10:55:00.000-04:002014-07-04T10:55:47.929-04:00Religious Freedom and Politics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Religion and politics mix well in American freedom. They don’t mix in an autocratic government.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">During the American Revolution, the Congregational and Presbyterian pastors made patriots out of their members to the point of taking up arms against the Loyalists, the British army, and the oppressive rule of British King, George III. The Separatist and Regular Baptists also took up the call toward the end of the War. Their persuasive message proclaimed that God was on their side and that their cause was just.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It helped fuel the preacher’s patriotic fire when many of them were arrested and jailed for preaching without a license from the government church, the Church of England. Rev. Lewis Craig and his brother, Elijah, unlicensed Baptist preachers were jailed in Virginia for preaching without a license. Rev. Daniel Marshall was arrested in Augusta. Only Church of England pastors were permitted to preach. All others had to have a license. The rebel preachers believed that they had their authority to speak from God, and that was all the authority they needed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rev. Elijah Craig whose famous Kentucky bourbon is still made and sold today, would later collaborate with James Madison on constitutional guarantees for religious freedom before moving his family to Kentucky. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Two Charleston activists preachers, Presbyterian William Tennant III, and Baptist Oliver Hart, were sent to the South Carolina back country by the provincial congress in 1775 to convince wavering citizens and pastors to join the Revolution. Hart and Tennant were the most influential pastors in the Low Country and were absolutely opposed to autocratic rule.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Their efforts to persuade many in the Back Country to convert to the Patriot cause met with strong resistance by prominent pastors like Baptist Philip Mulkey who was an avowed Loyalist. However, the Charleston pastors were able to persuade many to sign a pledge of fidelity to the patriot cause in spite of heckling and opposition from the Loyalists.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Congregational Church in Midway, Georgia, and the parish that contained the church was a hotbed for Revolution giving us Dr. Lyman Hall, and Button Gwinnett, signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia. Nathan Brownson was a member of the church and served in the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1778. Midway Church was burned to the ground by the British in the Revolutionary War in retaliation because the church mixed religion with politics. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Patriot preachers like Baptist Tidance Lane, and his seven sons, and many others whose religion motivated them to fight, soundly defeated the Loyalists at the Battle of King’s Mountain, North Carolina, on October 7, 1780. Thomas Jefferson called this victory "The turn of the tide of success." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">America has a long legacy of religion mixing with politics that began with the Revolution. Our freedom of religion legacy extends to today as Hobby Lobby made a case and won that the government cannot violate what a closed corporation or family owned business believes is morally right based on their religious beliefs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Baptist preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., captured the spirit of mixing religion with politics causing him to be arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama like the activists preachers of the American Revolution. He wrote, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws… I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." …To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.” The African-American church led by Dr. King mixed religion and politics in the Civil Rights movement until the government changed its unjust laws.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Religion gives moral direction to government by asking the question, “What does the Lord require of you?”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And then, religion answers that question loudly and clearly. “The Lord requires of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (</span><a class="lbsBibleRef" data-purpose="bible-reference" data-reference="Micah 6.8" data-version="esv" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Micah%206.8" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Micah 6:8</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Religion must mix with politics to have any chance that government is and will be fair, just, and merciful to its citizens. Our religious freedom guarantees it. Our heritage and history proves it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Click the link for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E" target="_blank">Lee Greenwood's, "God Bless the USA."</a> Or click the arrow to play.</span><br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-45571012311671933362014-06-23T11:35:00.000-04:002014-06-26T11:36:37.891-04:00Sorrow and Joy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Who hasn't experienced sorrow? It is the knife that pierces our soul with the blood of tears flowing like waterfalls from out wounded emotions.</div>
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I have seen the strongest men weep. I have wept with them in their despair. I have cried in funeral sermons I've preached. And, I have wept from the painful losses I've experienced. Who hasn't experienced sorrow?</div>
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Sorrows like sea billows roll over us. Sadness and grief overwhelm us. We become as helpless as a baby. Everything secure is shattered into a thousand pieces.</div>
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There was a time in my life when I lost everything. I lost my job, my career as a full time pastor, and my family. I cried and couldn't turn off the tears. My mind said, "Stop!" It my emotional pain from he injury and loss I suffered wouldn't listen to my rational voice. I couldn't sleep even though my body was tired. When I was able to sleep, I slept in fits and starts awaking and hoping that it was time to get up. Sometimes, I'd just get up anyway and pace the floor.</div>
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I went to a doctor for help. He prescribed a sedative so that I could sleep. And, he counseled me. He said, "Before your trauma, you had cubby holes where you placed life into neat and orderly patterns. Those are gone. You're going to have to make new cubby holes and rebuild your life from the ground up."</div>
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I was a broken and broke man. I had to go back home and live with my mother. I was humiliated and had no one to walk beside me except her. She literally bore my sorrow.</div>
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My aunt and uncle also bore my pain. They had retired to their beach house. I called them and told what had happened to me. I asked if I could come and stay with them for a few days. They graciously consented.</div>
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My dad was deceased, but just being with his brother was almost like being with my dad. His and my aunt's support were the beginning of building new cubby holes. I rose early and spent the mornings alone on the beach watching the Lord summon the day. He spoke to me in the first light. "I will make a new day for you." A smile of hope dawned on my face. A glimmer of joy broke through my darkness.</div>
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Can there be joy in the night of sorrow? Yes!</div>
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The joy comes from the love relationship God has with us through Christ. No matter the moonless night, love comes through. It is felt. It is known. It is real. It carries us through when we are submerged in stormy sea of despair. When we cannot help ourselves, love carries us through the flood.</div>
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I felt abandoned and alone, but I was not alone. I felt hopeless, but the anchor of hope kept me from wildly drifting into the rocky shore of destruction. I felt despondent, but the shimmering sunrise gleaming over the soft and gentle waves breaking on the shore gave me the light of assurance. Life would go on. What was dead lives again! A new life for sure. A rebuilt life. But life goes on.</div>
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Jesus made sure life goes on. Not only in His resurrection is the assurance of our eternal life through Him, but life goes on here and now through the grief from death whether it be the death of loved one, death of a dream, or the total collapse of life as we know it. Life goes on.</div>
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Moreover, Christ often sends love our way through relationships like He did with mom and aunt and uncle. They were all I had. And, they loved me through it.</div>
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Jesus sought love even as I needed love in my time of sorrow and distress. As the disciples gathered for what Jesus knew would be their last Passover meal together, He said, "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="woj">“I have looked forward to </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A15&version=TLB" target="_blank">Luke 22:15 Living Bible</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Jesus' deepest sorrow knowing His arrest, trial, suffering, and crucifixion was imminent, He desired the fellowship of His disciples. I picture Jesus smiling, laughing, and singing with them as they gathered around the table before the grimness of what He was to say and do in demonstrating his body would be broken and His blood poured out. And, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I believe they laughed and talked about events they had experienced and how Jesus confronted the Pharisees that last eventful week before the crucifixion. I believe Jesus had a glimmer of joy in the gloomy doom closing in on Him. Even in His darkest night, His friends with the exception of Judas sang as they left the Upper Room bringing a brief gleam of joy to Him before the terrible sadness of the darkness. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There was another instance of joy in Jesus' sorrow too. Two days before the shared Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus dined in Bethany at the home of Simon, a leper whom He had healed. While He was eating, a woman came in and knelt at His feet. She opened the small alabaster box she had in her hand and poured its expensive perfume over His head (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A7&version=TLB" target="_blank">Matthew 26:7</a>). Her action came from the deep love she had for our Lord. I believe this act of love brought a smile of joy to Jesus's face in the midst of the sorrow surrounding Him. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the same way, the acts from my mom and aunt and uncle expressed love to me. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They cooked for me, waited on me, and in effect poured perfume on my soul which gave me joy in my night of suffering and loss. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The power of love gives us joy in sorrow. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">Though clouds of sorrow may lower making our soul dark and dreary, Christ gives a glimmer of light in the darkness. He gives the dawn in our shadows. The power of love breaks through the pain and gives rays of joy through the rain. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">The shadows of first light give way to the dawning and the dawning promises noonday bright. Even in grief, there is the glimmer of joy, and the glimmer will turn into full joy (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+16%3A20&version=NIV" target="_blank">John 16:20</a>) like the glimmers of morning's first light turn into the brilliance of noonday's sun. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: justify;">That is the promise of Christ. Believe it. The sun will come out again giving you the bright light of Christ to rebuild your life. His light gives you the enabling ability to make those cubby holes to sort out all that has happened to you so you can enjoy life again. I know this to be the truth! And the Truth sets us free (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A32&version=NIV" target="_blank">John 8:32</a>). </span></div>
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Finish your devotion by listening to "Life Goes on" by the Talley Trio. Click this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2SaaLPrVI" target="_blank">link</a>. Or, click on the arrow of the embedded video.</div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-84857748476071012742014-06-17T10:44:00.000-04:002014-06-26T11:37:21.516-04:00Loneliness or Solitude<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of my favorite songs is "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ab8BOu4LE" target="_blank">One Is the Loneliest Number</a>" by Three Dog Night. It was released in 1969 and climbed to number 4 on the charts.</div>
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Lonely and alone is not a pleasant place. God created us to be relational. "It is not good for man to live alone" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">Genesis 2:18</a>). </div>
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It's no fun eating alone at a restaurant. A night at the movie is better shared with a friend or a spouse. Sitting in a church pew all alone leaves an empty, incomplete feeling. One is the loneliest number.</div>
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Throw in our built-in God given need for companionship with the unhealthy addiction of co-dependency and a feeling of desperation can drive the lonesome heart into depression. The co-dependent will be and do anything to have a companion. Irrational thoughts take control because of the false sense that I am nobody until somebody loves me.</div>
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Loneliness plays with the mind. Thoughts like, "There must be something wrong with me. Why can't I keep a relationship? A friendship? It has to be me!" Thoughts like these play like a bad tune over and over in our mind. </div>
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Feelings of worthlessness crowd out the truth. The truth is that <strong>I can be complete within myself. </strong></div>
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Taken to the extreme, a lonely person can enact revenge on innocent people who he/she perceives have failed him/her. Elliot Rodger killed 6 people on May 24, 2014, in Santa Barbara, California, because he was lonely. In a video he posted before his murderous rampage, he said, "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tomorrow is the day of retribution. The day in which I will have my revenge against humanity. Against all of you," he says. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He goes on to claim that since reaching puberty he has "been forced to endure an existence of <b>loneliness</b>, rejection and unfulfilled desires, all because girls have never been attracted to me. I'm</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> 22-years old and I'm still a virgin. I've never even kissed a girl."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Co-dependency is one of many of mankind's plagues. It is a feeling that I must have somebody whatever it costs me. And if, I don't have a relationship, I am a misfit, and unfortunately, some like Elliot Rodger act out violently in revenge. Others can act out and take alcohol or drugs to kill the pain of loneliness. Co-dependency is a cruel addiction. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just what is co-dependency? It is <span style="text-align: justify;">being </span><em style="text-align: justify;">outer-focused</em><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">rather than being able to healthily detach from people to focus on and take care of my "I." It is an unhealthy dependency on someone to make us feel complete and happy. It is a feeling that "I am nothing without you." A co-dependent gives up his/her rights to be defined by God's definition of our identity. (See my blogs on "<a href="http://revdanwhite.blogspot.com/2014/02/who-am-i-i-am-christs-handiwork_12.html" target="_blank">Who am I?</a>") </span></span></div>
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A co-dependent forfeits his/her i<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">dentity and tries to take on the identity of someone else thinking that will enable a relationship. A co-dependent will do anything that the person who he/she is dependent upon wants in order to keep from being lonely. As a result, our</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> ability to take care of ourselves and treat ourselves with respect vanishes. (For more on co-dependency, click this <a href="http://www.melanietoniaevans.com/articles/codependency-issues.htm" target="_blank">link</a>.)</span></span></div>
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As a former co-dependent, another truth I've learned is that w<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">e cannot make someone like us. We cannot force someone to love us faithfully. We don't have that power. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">Relationships ebb and flow. Even long term relationships can decline and fade way even if we don't want that to happen. Rejection can be forced upon us leaving us lonely and confused wondering what happened and thinking that something must be wrong with me! </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">One is the loneliest number. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">The cure for loneliness is <strong>not</strong> having another person in my life. One can be a complete number. </span></span></div>
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What is the cure for loneliness? <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">The cure for loneliness is <strong>solitude</strong>. And, solitude is a choice. It turns a lemon into lemonade. It makes the bitter sweet. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">Solitude is the place of peace and quiet. That's a good place to live. Even it is forced upon us, it can be accepted as a gift of God. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Jesus often retreated to a place of solitude by choice. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, the Apostle Paul had solitude forced upon him as a prisoner held unjustly (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Tim%201:15&version=NIV" target="_blank">2 Timothy 1:15</a>). </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Friends deserted him. But, he turned loneliness into solitude. In solitude, he reflected on the grace and providence of God through Christ.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> In solitude, he gained self-understanding by reflecting on the purpose of his life (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+3%3A10&version=NIV" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" target="_blank">2 Timothy 3:10</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">). In solitude, he wrote some of the most powerful and inspired scriptures in the Bible like his letters to the church at Philippi and Timothy. Solitude can be and should be a good place even when it is forced upon us. In solitude, Paul's relationship with Christ deepened (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A7-11&version=NIV" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" target="_blank">Philippians 3:7-11</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">). Paul found the answer to loneliness in solitude.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">The Apostle John was unjustly exiled to the <strong>lonely</strong> desolate, island of Patmos. There, he worshipped the Lord. There, the Lord Jesus revealed Himself and the Book of Revelation came to be. John through the grace of Christ turned loneliness into solitude. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">William Penn was forced into loneliness. In 1682, he was confined to his house. In 1688, he was unjustly imprisoned in the Tower of London. But like Paul and many others, he turned loneliness into solitude and recognized his condition as a gift from the Lord. He wrote his thoughts and published, "Some Fruits of Solitude" under house arrest in 1682 which prepared him for his unjust imprisonment in 1688. Loneliness was forced upon Penn. But by the grace of God, he turned loneliness into solitude. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: justify;">Here are some of the blessings William Penn discovered in solitude. "</span>Solitude is a school few care to learn in, though nothing instructs us better than solitude. [It] results in serious reflection [with] flashes at lucid intervals. I <strong>blessed God</strong> for the retirement given to me, and kiss the gentle hand which led me into it, for if this writing should prove barren to the world, it can never be so to me. I have now had some time that I can call my own; a property I was never so much master of before, in which I have taken a view of myself and the world; and observed how I have hit and missed the mark."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Solitude is a place where my spirit finds rest. It's different than the rest for my body. My body rests </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">when it has reached exhaustion. My spirit rests when I reach satisfaction. My body rests when my eyes are closed to everything in sleep. My spirit rests when I open my eyes on God's image of me. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My heart can never find repose until I have found someone like myself . That someone is not found in another person. No. Instead, that someone I yearn for is someone in my own image. And who is my image? Whose reflection do I seek to see in the mirror?</span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> I see God reflected back to me because I am </span></span></span>made in the image of God. Only then, when I see the reflection of God in me through Christ living in me are my emotions satisfied. And when they are satisfied, my emotions rest, and my spirit rests. This is the blessing of solitude.</div>
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St. Augustine knew this rest from meditating in solitude. He said, "Lord, You<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> arouse us so that praising You may bring us joy, because You have made us and drawn us to Yourself, and <strong>our heart is restless until it rests in you</strong>."</span></div>
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Only by the power and grace of God through faith can loneliness be transformed into solitude. We never are alone. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us in loneliness (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A26&version=AMP" target="_blank">John 14:26)</a>. He is our unseen companion who walks with us, talks with us, and listens to us. That's what a comforter is, a friend to walk beside us. </div>
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Reject loneliness and the feeling that you are a nobody unless somebody loves you. Someone greater than somebody loves, accepts, and affirms you. That someone is Christ. Paul affirmed, "I live by faith in the Son of God,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29102C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup> <strong>who loved me<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29102D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup></strong> and gave himself for me" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2%3A20&version=NIV" target="_blank">Galatians 2:20</a>). Christ Spirit lives in you and will never abandon you like "friends," a spouse, or significant other does. </div>
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No one can separate you from the love-relationship Christ has with you either. No one! (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A39&version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 8:39</a>).</div>
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Also, understand and learn that you are <strong>complete</strong> in Christ (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2%3A10&version=NKJV" target="_blank">Colossians 2:10</a>). <em>You don't need anyone.</em> You have Him. </div>
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Discover yourself in solitude. Find out your true identity. Your real self. </div>
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Discover Christ in solitude. He is Truth, and the Truth will set you free. </div>
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Accept solitude by faith and by faith turn your loneliness into the blessings of solitude. </div>
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There is peace, rest, and quiet in solitude found no where else. Embrace it!<br />
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Finish your devotion by listening to "Still" by HillSong. Click this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3wwWFsSlNQ" target="_blank">link</a> or click the arrow on the embedded video.<br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-8392598512906317062014-06-13T10:11:00.000-04:002014-06-26T11:38:32.916-04:00Conflict or Peace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We are relational beings because God is relational and created us in His image. Without the peace only Christ gives us, relationships are broken. The relationship of my emotions, mind, and spirit is broken instead of in unity. Relationships with others are corrupted, and the relationship with God is distant or non-existent. Where there is no peace, conflict rages within us and without us. </div>
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Only Christ gives calming peace, and He gives peace through His love relationship with us. </div>
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Our Trinitarian God is relational. Father, Son, and Spirit. Three persons. One God in perfect unity and harmony.</div>
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In turn, God created us to be relational with Him and with others. In a relationship, we are connected to one another through common interests, goals, and desires. We are connected to one another emotionally, mentally, and in a spiritual way too. And, I am connected within myself emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. </div>
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The ancient Greeks had a descriptive word, p<em>hilios,</em> for how we connect in relationships. This word made its way into the New Testament. </div>
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<i>Philios</i> describes the relationship that is connected through common interests, goals, and desires. Literally, it means brotherly love. When William Penn, a devout Christian and Quaker, founded the port city in his new colony of Pennsylvania, he named it Philadelphia from two Greek words. <i>Philios</i> means brotherly love). <i>Delphia</i> means city. Thus, Philadelphia means "The city of brotherly love." </div>
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<i>Philios</i> is the ideal connection between two people or a group of people. It implies a common association or affiliation such as the blood kinship between brothers, siblings, and family. And, it goes beyond family affiliation to any person or group with whom we form relationships.</div>
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<i>Philios</i> also implies that to sustain the connection, mutual respect and understanding of one another is necessary if the relationship is to be healthy, edifying, and alive.</div>
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Another Greek word that expresses how we connect in relationships had to be invented by the New Testament writers because nothing in the Greek lexicon came even remotely close to capturing the relationship of love that God has for us. So, they invented the word "<i>agape</i>." <i>Agape</i> describes the love relationship that connects God with us.</div>
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<i>Agape</i> is beyond defining. This word is most often translated into "love" in English versions of the New Testament. But, the only way to comprehend the a<em>gape</em> love relationship flowing from God to us is to demonstrate it. Two verses come to mind.</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates His own love (<i>agape</i>) toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">John 3:16: For God so loved<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></span> (<i>agape</i>) the world that he gave<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span> his one and only Son,<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></span> that whoever believes<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></span> in him shall not perish but have eternal life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In order to enter into a love relationship with us, God acted in the greatest demonstration possible to connect Himself with me and you. God the Son, the Son of God, gave Himself through suffering, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">humiliation, and death by way of crucifixion. In that act, God connects with us and brings us to </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Himself through our faith. Theologians call this action "atonement." </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But like </span><i>agape</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">, atonement cannot be defined. It has to be experienced. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What is that atonement experience? It is the <b>experience</b> of being accepted, affirmed, and loved (</span><i>agape) </i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by Christ which brings us into the love relationship with the Father making us at one (atonement) with God. This divine-human relationship fulfills and completes us emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. No other relationship can make us complete and accomplish the purpose for which we were made. That purpose is for the created to live in a love relationship with the Creator. </span></div>
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God's love relationship with us received by faith brings peace to our conflicted soul and peace in our <i>philios</i> relationships. <b>"</b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Eph-2-14" id="en-NIV-29244">For Christ himself is our <b>peace</b>,<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29244AF" title="See cross-reference AF">AF</a>)"></span> who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. </span><span class="text Eph-2-15" id="en-NIV-29245">His purpose was to create in himself one<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29245AJ" title="See cross-reference AJ">AJ</a>)"></span> new humanity thus making <b>peace</b>,<b> </b></span><span class="text Eph-2-16" id="en-NIV-29246">and to </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">reconcile us to God through the cross,</span><span class="crossreference" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29246AK" title="See cross-reference AK">AK</a>)"></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> by which he put to death our hostility" (Ephesians 2:14-16).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">God is relational. He relates to Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. Three persons. One God in perfect peace, unity and harmony. He is not conflicted in any way. He is Peace, and only He can give peace.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">God made us relational too. We relate inwardly within ourselves through emotion, mind, and spirit. Only in the love relationship with the Father through the Son with the Spirit abiding within is the composition of my emotional, mental, and spiritual parts in perfect harmony, unity, and peace in much the same way the triune God is in perfect harmony, unity, and peace with Himself. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Without this completeness, oneness, and wholeness within me, unholy war breaks out in inner destructive conflicts. Without the peace of God ruling in me, my mind wars against my emotions. My emotions war against my mind. My spirit rages like a tempest. Peace alludes me. My emotions and mind are left bloody and battered from fightings <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">within me causing pain that is </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">expressed through my body with muscle tension, headaches, stress, stomach upset, and heartache. </span></span></div>
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Paul poignantly describes this inner conflict. "What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, <strong>doing things I absolutely despise</strong>. T<span class="text Rom-7-17-Rom-7-20" id="en-MSG-12042">he power of sin (over my mind and emotions) within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, <strong>I obviously need help</strong>! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it (with my mind), but I can’t <i>do</i> it (because of my emotions). I decide to do good, but I don’t <i>really</i> do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. </span><span class="text Rom-7-21-Rom-7-23" id="en-MSG-12043">It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that </span><br />
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charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for <span class="text Rom-7-21-Rom-7-23"><span class="text Rom-7-24" id="en-MSG-12044">me? Isn’t that the real question?" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7%3A14-25&version=MSG" target="_blank">Romans 7:14-24 MSG</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span class="text Rom-7-21-Rom-7-23"></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moreover, the conflict spills out in other destructive battles. Not only do I have emotional pain from my inner conflict, but I also hurt those </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">with whom I am in a </span><i>philios</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> relationship. And, I war against God and am at odds with Him.</span></div>
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This is a terrible, unpleasant predicament. Is there any way out? Yes, there is! The way out is through Christ who brings us to wholeness because of the love relationship the Father established through His agape love for us! "Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free!" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7%3A25&version=TLB" target="_blank">Romans 7:25</a>).</div>
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An amazing redemptive transformation occurs in my emotions, mind, and spirit. Instead of warring against each other, they are united in harmony and peace. Instead of colliding with each other, they are aligned with each other working harmoniously together in me for my good and giving me stability in my mind, emotions, and spirit.</div>
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This is the way God intended for us to be from the beginning. Just as He is in a harmonious and peaceful relationship with Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit, so He brings us to harmony and peace uniting our separate parts together in oneness and wholeness. "My <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">completeness is only realized in Christ, who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all powers" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2:10&version=PHILLIPS" target="_blank">Colossians </a></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2:10&version=PHILLIPS" target="_blank">2:10 Phillips</a>). </span>It is a wonderful place to be that does not come by <strong>doing</strong>. It comes by <strong>being</strong> in a love relationship with the Lord.</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The peace given through God's love relationship with me is not affected by circumstances or by those in conflict with me. Just as the conflicts between humans and in humans do not effect the peace and oneness God has with Himself, so the peace from God in me is not touched by the conflicts of others or by their hostility toward me! A person can be in conflict with me, but I can be at peace with him/her and maintain the calming peace of God within me. Amazing!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There are plenteous times when I must be mindful that Christ is in my boat when the storms rage on the sea of life. If I forget, fear causes me to fight back in my own strength to save myself out of the hostile assault that threatens my inner God-given peace. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is in God's love relationship with me that holds my emotions, mind, and spirit together in perfect unity. And through faith and submission to Christ by the power of His Spirit living in me, I allow His peace to reign and rule over my emotions.</span></div>
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You are called to possess a life of peace. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"<span class="text Col-3-14" id="en-NCV-29411" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;">Even more than all this, clothe yourself in love. <strong>Love </strong></span></span><span class="text Col-3-14" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>is what holds you together in perfect unity</strong>. </span><span class="text Col-3-15" id="en-NCV-29412" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Let the peace that Christ gives control and rule my thinking, because I am called to have peace" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A14-15&version=NCV" target="_blank">Colossians 3:14-15</a>). "</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If my thinking is controlled by my sinful selfhood, there is death. But if my thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is <strong>life and peace</strong>" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A6&version=NCV" target="_blank">Romans 8:6</a>). </span></div>
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God is the God of <strong>peace</strong> and NOT disorder (1 Corinthians 14:33).</div>
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Live in the peace God gives you through the indwelling Christ. Set your mind to it, and may the peace of Christ abide with you always.</div>
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Now, clear your mind of every conflict that takes away your peace and meditate in silence for several minutes upon the peace Christ gives. (Note: I find breathing exercises help. Exhale the conflict. Inhale the peace. Feel the calming peace of our Lord fill your mind, emotions, and spirit!)</div>
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After meditation, listen to "Let the Peace of God Reign" by Darlene Zschech and Hillsong. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbrNFxiHuYg" target="_blank">Click this link</a> or click the arrow to the imbedded video.<br />
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What we can see, feel, hear, taste, and smell binds us to this world. Imagination allows our mind to form mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses. But, the <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">product of our </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">mental creation is often a baseless or fanciful one. Revelation is to make known that which is unknown by our five senses. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The unknown is revealed only by the person who knows. In the unknown world of the spirit, God, who knows all, has chosen to make Himself known to us who do not know. The fullest, most complete revelation of God came through the Son. If we want to know the character of God and who He is, look at Jesus. Jesus said, "<span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </span>If you really know me, you will know<b> </b>my Father as well (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A7&version=NIV" target="_blank">John 14:7</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Know means an intimate relationship like between a husband and wife in conjugal relationship. In that relationship, two become one. And so it is between a believer and the Spirit of Christ. Two become one with the Spirit of Christ inside a believer. The Apostle Paul notes, "</span>I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29102B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span> The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29102C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></span> who loved me<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29102D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></span> and gave himself for me (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2%3A20&version=NIV" target="_blank">Galatians 2:20</a>). And in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1%3A27&version=NIV" target="_blank">Colossians 1:27</a>, "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">God has chosen to <b>make known</b><span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29493A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></span> the glorious riches<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29493B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span> of this mystery, which is Christ in you,<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29493C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></span> the hope of glory." </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So, how do we know what God has made known through Christ. We know by faith. We believe. And where does faith come from? What makes faith possible? The Scripture says, "</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+10%3A17&version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 10:17</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Revelation on God's part and faith on our part is the transaction that transports us into the world of the unseen. God reveals. I believe. Then, I am able to see into the unseen world. I cross the threshold for what I can perceive with my five senses into what I can see, feel, and hear through the Spirit. This is not a figment of my imagination, but rather, it is truth. In fact, the unseen world of the Spirit is actually the real world. That's where my focus needs to be. <b>"</b>We<b> </b>fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28878A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></span> since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 4:18</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Once I cross that threshold, I am on the way to healing and completeness in my emotions (my heart) and mind. God gives me the wisdom of self-understanding and self-awareness. Everything I am and everything that happens to me, good or bad, begins to make sense since I see with my spiritual eyes and hear with my spiritual ears. The more I believe, the more I hear and see. The more I doubt, the less I hear and see. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-indent: 25.92px;">For those who have <strong>NOT</strong> gone through that Door by faith, they are deaf and blind. Jesus said, "Though seeing, they do not see; </span><span class="text Matt-13-13" style="position: relative; text-indent: 25.92px;"><span class="woj">though hearing, they do not hear or understand" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A13&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 13:13</a>). The Apostle Paul put it like this, "</span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-indent: 25.92px;">The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are <strong>spiritually discerned</strong>" (</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-indent: 25.92px;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A14&version=NIV" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 2:14</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-indent: 25.92px;">Here is an illustration. </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Music is meaningless to the eye. Paintings, reading, and pictures have no message for the ear. The composer writes for the ear. The painter paints for the eye. In the same way, God appeals to my spirit and my deepest emotional and mental needs which cannot be satisfied through my five senses. Mysteries of faith can only be seen by the Spirit of God communicating with my spirit. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thus, I can see the mystery of suffering and it's purpose. I can see the answer to the mystery of "Why am I here?" I can see the completeness and wholeness of Christ forming His image in me through His Spirit. I can see Him redeeming my brokenness and making me whole bit by bit. As a result, I know </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Peace and Joy. I worship and in worship, I know </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">more and more of Him. His love. His character. His transforming power. I see and hear what my eyes and ears have been unable to comprehend through my own human efforts. My faith doesn't rest on my human wisdom but on God's power! (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A5&version=NIV" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 2:5</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">The realm of the Spirit is beyond what I can see and hear with my physical senses. “What no eye has seen,</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text 1Cor-2-9" style="position: relative;">what no ear has heard, </span>and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has <b>revealed</b><span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28405B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span> to us by his Spirit" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2:9-10" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 2:9-10</a>). </div>
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But some might ask, "Then why can't I hear? Why can't I see? I can testify from my own experience that there have been times, even long intervals, when I couldn't see and couldn't hear. I doubted. Things didn't make sense. I was emotionally and mentally broken. I couldn't figure it out until I admitted my powerlessness and replaced my helplessness with His power and gift of wisdom. </div>
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Jesus said that times like I went through come from a calloused heart. "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For this people’s heart has become calloused;</span><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><span class="text Matt-13-15" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); position: relative;"><span class="woj">they hardly hear with their ears,</span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><span class="text Matt-13-15" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); position: relative;"><span class="woj">and they have closed their eyes. </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Otherwise they might see with their eyes, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">hear with their ears, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">understand with their hearts </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and turn, and I would heal them" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A15&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 13:15</a>). </span></div>
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Try explaining this to a rationalist, a humanist, or a person who has pride in his/her ability to figure out things through his/her efforts. It can't be explained. Instead, it's like Jesus explained to Peter after he made his well known confession about who Jesus is. Jesus said, "Flesh and blood [human wisdom based on the senses and human reasoning] has not revealed this to you. My Father revealed this to you! (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+16%3A16-17&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 16:16-17)</a>.</div>
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So, am I blind and deaf or do I see and hear. God reveals Himself through Christ? When I believe Christ, then His Spirit comes to live in me. My blind eyes are opened and my deaf ears hear.</div>
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He begins to reveal the broken places in my heart or emotions, and heals them like a broken bone heals back together in one piece. It's amazing!</div>
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As the Spirit heals my heart, then my mind is also being healed. Jesus linked heart health (emotional health) to mind health. Unhealthy emotions cloud our ability to see and hear the Spirit living in us. Jesus explains, "<span class="text Matt-15-18" id="en-NIV-23652"><span class="woj">But the things that come out of a person’s mouth <strong>come from the heart</strong>,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-23652N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)"></sup> and these defile them.</span></span> <span class="text Matt-15-19" id="en-NIV-23653"><span class="woj">For <strong>out of the heart</strong> come <strong>evil thoughts</strong>—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. </span></span><span class="text Matt-15-20" id="en-NIV-23654"><span class="woj">These are what defile a person" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+15%3A18-20&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 15:18-20</a>).</span></span><br />
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To defile means to make unclean, impure, corrupt. If the heart is not clean, it is not whole or well. It's like drinking impure water that contains harmful bacteria. The germs make me physically sick. Likewise, impure emotions make the mind sick and unstable. As a result, a person is blind and deaf to see and hear the Spirit.<br />
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Only a pure heart can see the Lord. Jesus said, "Blessed (happy) are the pure in heart,<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Matt-5-8"><span class="woj">for they will see God (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A8&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 5:8</a>). </span></span></span><br />
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My heart then is the source of life, God-life, in me. And I must learn skills and at the same time open my heart by faith to the infilling of the Holy Spirit who is the source of wellness in my emotions. "Guard your heart above all else, <span class="text Prov-4-23">for it is the source of life" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+4%3A23&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Proverbs 4:23</a>). </span><br />
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<span class="text Prov-4-23">Once the heart is pure, then the mind follows because what comes out of the mouth so to speak has come out of the mind flowing from the heart. That's essentially what Jesus said. Paul elaborated on this when he wrote, "Put off<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29295AV" title="See cross-reference AV">AV</a>)"></sup> your old self,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29295AW" title="See cross-reference AW">AW</a>)"></sup> which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires (from the emotions/heart);<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29295AX" title="See cross-reference AX">AX</a>)"></sup> <span class="text Eph-4-23" id="en-NIV-29296">to be made new in the <strong>attitude of your minds</strong>;<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29296AY" title="See cross-reference AY">AY</a>)"></sup></span> <span class="text Eph-4-24" id="en-NIV-29297">and to put on<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29297AZ" title="See cross-reference AZ">AZ</a>)"></sup> the new self,<sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29297BA" title="See cross-reference BA">BA</a>)"></sup> <strong>created to be like God</strong> in true righteousness and holiness" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4%3A22-24&version=NIV" target="_blank">Ephesians 4:22-24</a>).</span></span><br />
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<span class="text Prov-4-23"><span class="text Eph-4-24">A pure heart and a new mind give clarity of vision to see God and the ability to comprehend the voice of God. </span></span><br />
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<span class="text Prov-4-23"><span class="text Eph-4-24">Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see you. Open our heart, Lord. We want to know you. Open our ears, Lord. We need to hear you. </span></span><br />
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<span class="text Prov-4-23"><span class="text Eph-4-24">Finish this devotion and click on the link to hear and see, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXV6e0HNV0" target="_blank">God is Here</a>" by Darlene Zschech. Or click the arrow on the embedded video.</span></span><br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-22018733226647405732014-05-30T16:43:00.001-04:002014-06-26T11:40:55.104-04:00Self-loathing or Self-love?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unresolved guilt makes us do strange, tragic things ourselves. I know. Been there and done that.</div>
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Unresolved guilt comes from many sources. One powerful source is the blame and shame others pound us with leaving us with feelings of inadequacy, failure, and worthlessness.</div>
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How about this one? "You're crazy! You need to be institutionalized! You're no longer my daughter and don't call me Mom any more!" I'm not making this stuff up. Unfortunately, many allow themselves to be abused this way and do nothing about it. Why not leave? Why put up with the shame and blame? </div>
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Feelings evoked from such avalanches of criticism are more powerful than reason. Emotions overpower the mind causing us to act out our feelings of self-loathing.</div>
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We filter out the good and listen only to the bad. A negative environment that creates a negative emotional state convinces the mind that "I'm no good."</div>
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Self-efforts to resolve powerful shame and guilt feelings result in unhealthy acts to justify guilt and prove "I am not that bad." For example, I have a friend whose wife left him for another man. His ex-wife berated him constantly piling on criticism, blame, and shame. "It's your fault I left you," she said. He couldn't filter out the negative. To prove his worth, he dated and dated and dated traveling near and far to go on dates. He had to prove to himself that he wasn't that bad. He did this two or three nights a week after working all day for about six months. He made me tired just from listening. But, he was driven. Finally, his compulsion subsided, and he is OK with himself. His dating life is what I call normal today. He is a good man, a good father, and a good, faithful church-going husband. He's discovering that about himself now that his nagging, critical wife is no longer around.</div>
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Another unhealthy act arising the self-loathing caused by guilt and shame is to over compensate in an attempt to make us feel better. I never realized this until a few years ago when I was in therapy. I used to work practically non-stop. I taught school which in itself is a full time job. Then, I coached the school's baseball and softball teams which involved long hours of practice and getting home late after away games. On top of that, I pastored churches during my teaching career. I never took a weekend off. I couldn't do enough. On top of that, I wanted to be the best. I worked hard to make my teams successful, and they were. I worked hard to enlarge my congregations, and they grew. I worked hard at being a good teacher, and I felt that I was. As a result, I crashed and burned. Little did I know that my workaholism resulted from unresolved guilt to prove my worth, to be accepted and praised, and to be somebody. </div>
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Every time I crashed and burned, I went through a period of self-loathing. All of those condemning words I heard as a child and teen pounded in my head. My failings as an adult reverberated in my mind. After a period of self-loathing, I brushed myself off and resolved to do more, to do better, and to be successful until I crashed and burned again. It was a vicious cycle that put me into therapy.</div>
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I remember an alcoholic calling me desperate for help. During a drinking binge, her husband left her. She was in danger of losing her job. I arranged counseling for her and introduced her to a support group. She resolved to do better and whip her addiction. She succeeded for a short time and diagnosed herself as healed. She quit going to the group meetings. Then, she fell off the wagon again. Her guilt feelings from past abuse as a child and teen plus her failings as an adult was all she could hear. She had to absolve her guilt and self-loathing. Tragically, she resolved her guilt through alcohol. As long as she was drunk, those feelings weren't there. But when sober again, the guilt intensified and her pain returned. She loathed herself for her state of drunken stupor. It is a vicious unrelenting cycle. </div>
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These are just three examples of self-efforts to absolve our guilt and self-loathing. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of ways people use to justify themselves to prove their worth. There are many in the Bible. One that comes immediately to mind is the fatal way Judas Iscariot tried to resolve his guilt.</div>
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After betraying Jesus, guilt overwhelmed his emotions. He went to the Temple and threw down the silver coins that he was paid for taking the police to Jesus. That didn't work. He loathed himself without relief. He ended his misery by hanging himself - the ultimate act caused by unresolved guilt and self-loathing.</div>
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We can't overcome our feelings of failure by acts that we think make up for our wrongdoing whether those failures are real or imagined. We can never DO enough to overcoming our shortcomings and justify ourselves. NEVER! </div>
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What we are really trying to do is atone for something amiss in our emotions and mind. But, we don't have that kind of power to resolve our brokenness and make ourselves whole.</div>
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Are you driven by guilt? Do you loathe, hate, and despise yourself? Sometimes? A lot? Always? </div>
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There is a better way to live. It is the way of self-love.</div>
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Understand that I am not referring to the selfish self-absorbed, self-love condemned in the Bible <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+3%3A2&version=NIV" target="_blank">(2 Timothy 3:2)</a>. I am talking about a healthy, God-given, grace filled self-love that comes from Christ's act of propitiation which frees us from self-punishment caused by unresolved guilt and self-loathing.</div>
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First, where do these false accusations come from? What are their origins. The Bible teaches they come from the Accuser or Satan who accuses us believers day and night!<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+12%3A10-11&version=NIV" target="_blank">(Revelation 12:10-12).</a></div>
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How then do we overcome the Accuser to live in self-acceptance and self-love? We overcome through the propitiation of Christ that occurred through his death on the cross. "<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </span>In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:11). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Propitiation means to satisfy wrath and replace wrath with favor. In regards to us believers, it means that God's wrath was poured out on the suffering, crucifixion, and death of Christ <strong>instead of upon us</strong>. As a result of God's wrath being satisfied through the death of His Son, he now favors us, His children. Yes, we are favored sons and daughters! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is grace! More than we deserve. More than we can imagine. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is love. God's love for us demonstrated in that while we yet sinners, Christ died for us (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A8&version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 5:8</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since the Lord favors you and me, we can favor ourselves. This is healthy, God-given, and grace filled self love. I don't have to beat myself up anymore trying to absolve my guilt. I don't loathe or despise myself even when I fail. I don't have to try harder to gain acceptance and approval when unjustly or justly criticized for performance failures. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yea, it brothers me when I fail. Yea, it bothers me when my performance doesn't measure up to my standards or the standards of my superiors. Yea, it bothers me when I am criticized and condemned. \</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But I refuse to allow this to invade my sanctuary. My inner sanctuary is fenced in by God's grace and love. I make mistakes, but that doesn't make me a mistake. Grace and love protect me from feeling inferior, bad, or condemned by my mistakes. <strong>I'm not a mistake!</strong> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I can't allow my shortcomings and failings to affect my self-worth given to me by God through Christ's act of propitiation. No matter what others think of me, I know He favors me even if no one else does. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yes, it's nice to have the esteem of others. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It's nice to be affirmed for a job well done. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It's nice to be accepted. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But the greatest love of all comes from God through Christ's act of propitiation on the cross. <strong>He alone makes me feel loved, accepted, affirmed, and pleasing</strong>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And therefore, I am able to love myself because I have fallen in love with Christ living in me! Loving myself is actually loving Christ who lives in me, is transforming me into the image of Christ, and creating in me godly characteristics like joy, peace, gentleness, patience, and love. </span></div>
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I like who He turned me into. I like me a lot. Yea, I love me. It's nice to be in love with myself instead of loathing and condemning myself. It's nice, real nice. </div>
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Finish your devotion by listening to "Your Name Brings Healing to Me" by Planetshakers. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgHZQTZ0tgo&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Click here</a>.</div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-91067645513025355032014-05-12T16:44:00.001-04:002014-06-26T11:41:44.613-04:00Who am I? I am free from guilt and shame. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Who am I? I am free from guilt and shame!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">False guilt and the resulting feeling of shame weighed me down for most of my life. It's like chains shackled my mind, emotions, and soul. It's bondage trapped me in the dungeon of dark depression. When the darkness hid the light, I felt depressed and worthless. I felt I couldn't do anything right no matter how hard I tried to do what others expected me to do and what I expected of myself. When those times came, I felt like a failure and hid in a cave. I didn't want to be exposed for anyone to see what a failure I was. It was a painful way to live. </span></div>
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In my early 30's, I enjoyed running when I pastored a church in Florida. I mostly ran at night. No, it wasn't to escape the Florida heat. It was because of a sense of shame that clouded my identity. I didn't want to risk the ridicule of anyone in the church laughing or making fun of me for running. Crazy, isn't it. But, that's the way I was. It was a painful way to live. </div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Living in guilt and shame is bondage. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Guilt is a feeling that everyone is familiar with. It can be described as "a bothered conscience." I felt guilty for what I did or didn't do. Failure to perform up to my unreasonable expectations or the expectations of others disturbed my "I" and kept me from being at peace with myself, others, and God. It was like a splinter in my hand that became infected and festered into a painful sore. I had a sense of obligation to always do the right thing and be good. I wanted to look good to my peers, supervisors, and to those who I related to. I wanted to be good. I guess pleasing people became an idol to me. I worshipped at the altar of approval. I desperately needed everyone's approval and affirmation and sacrificed myself on that altar. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I could give numerous examples from my life and others whom I know. Here is one that happened recently with one of my students. This young man is a perfectionist. When he doesn't measure up to his standards, he feels guilt and shame and acts out. The other day, I gave an unannounced quiz over a homework assignment. He always does his homework and makes A's on such quizzes. For some reason, he couldn't recall some of the answers. He tore his paper into two pieces and hung his head. I went over and put my hand on his shoulder and told him, "Its ok. I'll put the pieces together and grade it. I know you did the best you could. Don't worry about it." His frustration so reminded me of my sufferings from unrealistic expectations that I put on myself. I hurt for him and know he has a lot of emotional work to do down the road to quit condemning himself for what he perceives as failure to measure up to his impossible standards. I didn't resolve my issues until just a few years ago. I hope it doesn't take him as long as it did me!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fortunately, God is a jealous God and burned this idol - this sense of obligation to always do the right thing. Failure was not an option for me. It is now.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thank God, He burned my idol and turned it into ashes like fire sent from heaven. It was painful to watch it burn, and I went through great emotional pain from the fire.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There was nothing left but ashes. But out of the ashes, God through Christ revealed my folly and how He had justified me through the cross. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I knew about justification. After all, I had been to seminary and studied all of the weighty theological terms and doctrines. But knowing it academically and knowing it experientially are as different as knowing chocolate tastes good and eating chocolate. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As a result of my guilt feelings (which I discovered was false guilt), I felt shame. Shame follows guilt like winter's deadness follows autumn. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Shame caused me to try and mend the damage. I tried to justify myself by trying harder, doing more, and trying to make it up by apologizing all over myself. I even apologized for things that were simply the fault of my humanness. I felt shame for simply being who I am. Not good.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I found shame to be a much stronger and more profound emotion than guilt. I felt disappointment about something inside of me, inside of my "I," my basic nature.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My shame and false guilt had intensive implications for perceptions of myself and my behavior toward other people, particularly in situations of conflict.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Shame from false guilt caused me to feel unworthy and avoid others. When I did something wrong or something that I felt didn't meet my standards or the standards of others, I wanted to withdraw and hide. That's depression. There were times I dreaded going to work because I felt I couldn't face others. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In conflicts or arguments, shame also caused me to be unnecessarily defensive, aggressive, confrontational, and retaliatory. That only exacerbated the conflict rather than alleviating it. It was like pouring gas on the blaze. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Shame also caused me to react with other types of aberrant behavior. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I would sometimes attack or strike out at other people. In an attempt to feel better about myself and justify myself to rid myself of the false guilt and shame that followed my guilt feelings. What I was doing was lifting myself up by bringing others down. This behavior not only continued the relational conflict, but it escalated into a shouting match with hurt feelings and resentment for everyone involved. That was prideful, and pride goes before a fall. I fell off the cliff. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Another way I strayed from Christ-like behavior was to seek power and control over situations and over others. This was an effort, I discovered, to prevent</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> the possibility of future shame. By seeking power and position, I felt valuable, important, affirmed, and significant. I tried to make myself MVP. This was not a good way to feel self-worth either. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I wanted to be perfect in everything I did just like my student. That way, I could never be shamed. No one could find fault in me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">loved getting a pat </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on the back for doing a good job whether it was patting myself on the </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">back </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">or from </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">someone else. But there is just one problem. I struck out more times than I hit home runs. Not good.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Oh, and this was a good one I tried to defend my explosions by blaming others. "It was their fault I lost my temper. It was their fault for not appreciating the good work I was doing. How dare you criticize me! Don't you know I'm perfect!" I didn't take responsibility for my temper tantrums. I blamed my wife for "making" me mad." That committee set me off. It's their fault. I tried to pass my shame and guilt to others by shaming them and making them feel guilty. Not good! It's craziness. Shame just piled up like a mountain of garbage. Every irrational reaction piled on more shame. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgVH6syqdQi_5cqhQtDys9C_MVjpPThAZeOq274fwTcE2-U3wAJeUZRTbK_QrzmZLFuTOChoJF3sznpF-fHuSGH8exjxM7Tw_MdRslK7BD4sazc-zdRzjz_UeYVHj0u59ai4jcybme2w/s1600/peoplePleaser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgVH6syqdQi_5cqhQtDys9C_MVjpPThAZeOq274fwTcE2-U3wAJeUZRTbK_QrzmZLFuTOChoJF3sznpF-fHuSGH8exjxM7Tw_MdRslK7BD4sazc-zdRzjz_UeYVHj0u59ai4jcybme2w/s1600/peoplePleaser.jpg" /></a>I think my worst behavior of all to compensate for <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">my feelings of shame and unworthiness was trying to be exceptionally nice to every one. This is otherwise known as people-pleasing. If people I valued as significant liked me, I felt no guilt or shame. Ha! Not everyone is going to like me! I found this out the hard way especially trying to gain approval of my students by being overly nice to them hoping they would like me and behave properly. "How could they hurt me if they liked me?" I erroneously thought. Nicety is viewed as weakness, and I set myself up to be steamrolled. Not good. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When all of my attempts failed to assuage my guilt and shame, I withdrew. This essentially numbed my pain like an anesthesia. But the anesthesia wears off and the bad feelings return. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All of these attempts (people-pleasing, perfectionism, self-justification) to rid myself of guilt and shame only provided temporary relief. The more I implemented them, the worse my pain became. It's like an alcoholic. A few drinks relieves emotional pain, but it's not long before more and more are needed until he/she is totally dependent on the drug in order to face his/her emotional pain. The pain-killer becomes the pain-producer.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Elijah was in such pain that he withdrew into a cave, but the Lord wouldn't leave him there. He brought him out and completely changed him in the process. The Lord wouldn't let me stay in my cave either. He kept bringing me out until the light of justification from the cross lifted my guilt and shame off my back. </span><br />
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Today, I am free from false guilt and shame. I think I've learned the difference between false guilt and real guilt. Real guilt is a bothered conscience that takes away inner peace because one or more of the 10 commandments is broken. That's real guilt.<br />
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False guilt is a conflict riddled conscience that comes from failed standards or rules imposed on myself or from others who judge, condemn and reject me because I don't measure up to my standards or their standards. I've learned to brush that off. I've preached on this and took my hands to brush myself off like I was brushing off lint. Then, I told my congregation, "I'm brushing it off and giving it back to the person trying to load me up with false guilt and shame. Here, take it back. I don't want it!"<br />
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And, I learned to accept and experience through faith that I am justified, relieved of my burden of guilt and shame through Jesus' death on the cross. Experiencing <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A1&version=NIV">justification by faith </a>is better, far better, than knowing the definition of it! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqzE_nJ_suDdwchd9ANLfYZjja4TN0wWu3jmpSA77u175xjn2Z8N1JerOMqCN6Qcvwe-94TGIc2so05bnjTCt2Ia9nX4paWW9B7QSFEsmeQIYfv1Mkj97j4dIsc0u0ro6qUhZwJKUGzc/s1600/GuiltShame2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqzE_nJ_suDdwchd9ANLfYZjja4TN0wWu3jmpSA77u175xjn2Z8N1JerOMqCN6Qcvwe-94TGIc2so05bnjTCt2Ia9nX4paWW9B7QSFEsmeQIYfv1Mkj97j4dIsc0u0ro6qUhZwJKUGzc/s1600/GuiltShame2.jpg" height="64" width="320" /></a>"So there is now <strong>no condemnation</strong> awaiting me because I belong to Christ Jesus. <span class="text Rom-8-2" id="en-TLB-25185">For the power of the life-giving Spirit—and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death. </span> <span class="text Rom-8-3" id="en-TLB-25186">I'm not saved from sin’s grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can’t and don’t keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like mine—except mine is sinful—and destroyed sin’s control over me by giving himself as a sacrifice for my sins (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A1-2&version=TLB" target="_blank">Romans 8:1-2</a> Living Bible).</span><br />
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Who am I? I am free from guilt and shame!<br />
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Finish this devotional time with the Lord and listen to "Free to Dance" by Hillsong. Click on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP5YEdp11BE" target="_blank">this link</a> or click on the arrow on the video.</div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-60201567905340302222014-04-23T12:56:00.001-04:002014-06-26T11:43:24.841-04:00Not Forgotten<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them" (Hebrews 6:10).</div>
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How nice it is to get a phone call out of the blue from someone in the past! I got one of those last night. He is going through a tough time, and I ministered hope and love to him. His call also meant a lot to me. It was encouraging to me to know I was not forgotten and that he turned to me for help. We are mutually beneficial to each other. I helped him. He helped me (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1%3A12&version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 1:12</a>).</div>
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Sometimes, I feel forgotten. I have had friends who I thought were friends not call or check on me when I have had tremendous setbacks and crises in my life. I felt abandoned and alone. I thank God that my wife has always and is here for me. We both have expressed to each other how lonely and forsaken we would feel if one of us died. Both of us agree that we want to go out together! We know who our real friends are and our real friends are each other!</div>
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But out of the blue came that phone call last night. It was a good feeling to know that I have not been forgotten. That I still mattered to him. That he thought of me in his crisis. I need to feel needed. We all do. It gives us a sense of purpose, affirmation, and belonging.</div>
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Not only do we feel forgotten by others sometimes, but we can feel forgotten by God. It's like God doesn't know who I am anymore. He doesn't care. He hasn't answered my prayers. He hasn't gotten me out of this fix I'm in. Why hasn't He called?</div>
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This is when we have to believe by faith that God indeed hasn't forgotten or forsaken us like people do. </div>
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God doesn't forget you because you have shown the Lord your love in many ways. One is by the work you have done and maybe doing for him now. You have helped His people and continue to help them. God is not unjust. He won't walk away and ignore you. He will not forget you or your work done in love for Him.</div>
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You may not get a phone call like I did, but the Lord does have a letter he sent you. Get it out and read it again. Here are some of the assurances in His letter:</div>
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"Surely, <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am with you<span class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-24216B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></span> always, to the very end of the age" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+28%3A20&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 28:20</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Never will I leave you. Never </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">will I forsake you" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13%3A5&version=NIV" target="_blank">Hebrews 13:5</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><span class="small-caps" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">your God is with you, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">the Mighty Warrior who saves. He rejoices over you with singing!" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zephaniah+3%3A17" target="_blank">Zephaniah 3:17</a>). </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgUAQS_Luz-WCAUUREkHrYAx17x9q6xbzpmubXw6a0fI1Fv6kc7zcLwZ1awXWcRVNbhvcPE4cGXuky8vDpCJYZiv79YKiIvEo_LvbGm_bZggx_DdKn9ZFwW0OWz2PIlABXW2tMcSoTc5Q/s1600/0079+-+Trust+the+Lord,+He+is+always+with+you..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgUAQS_Luz-WCAUUREkHrYAx17x9q6xbzpmubXw6a0fI1Fv6kc7zcLwZ1awXWcRVNbhvcPE4cGXuky8vDpCJYZiv79YKiIvEo_LvbGm_bZggx_DdKn9ZFwW0OWz2PIlABXW2tMcSoTc5Q/s1600/0079+-+Trust+the+Lord,+He+is+always+with+you..jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I will never leave you . . .” Have we really let God say this to us in times of loneliness and feeling </span>forsaken that He will never leave me? If you have need of this assurance from God, read his letter again and again. Read it out loud to yourself. Memorize it. God speaks truth. Always.</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And I firmly believe that some way, some how God will make known in a tangible way that he has not forgotten you. It may be through a phone call like I got. It may be through a change from an unfavorable to a favorable circumstance. It may be that He speaks directly to you in a whisper like he did to Elijah (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+19%3A11-13&version=NIV" target="_blank">1 Kings 19:11-12)</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">. Whatever way God chooses, </span><b>He will make known His presence to you. You are not forgotten! </b></div>
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There are times we need that phone call. I got one. You will too in one way or another. He will let you know that you are not forgotten!</div>
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Click this link for "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2qe5VxrfzE" target="_blank">You Are Faithful</a>" sung by Darlene Zschech & Woody Pierson or click the play arrow on the video. </div>
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-47803619592669449852014-04-21T11:45:00.002-04:002014-06-26T11:44:02.761-04:00Room for Error<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the many jobs I've had was selling cars. The sales manager was a member and regular attendee of a prominent Baptist church. He was friends with the pastor. But oh! Those morning sales meetings. He turned the air blue cussing us out. We were no good. We couldn't sell a heater to an Eskimo. He threatened to fire the whole lot of us and hire a new sales staff. All of these blasts were interspersed with an unhealthy dose of expletives.<br />
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I would leave the sales meetings feeling like I had been knocked down by a heavy weight boxer. My head reeled. I'd walk around the car lot trying to clear my head and get myself together to meet, greet, and try to sell a car to a prospective customer. <br />
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Room for error? Room for failure? Room for mistakes? Not in this world for sure!<br />
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Has someone ever stuck you with labels like lazy, ugly, stupid, dumb, and incompetent? Sure they have! My parents did it. My supervisors have done it. Church members did it.<br />
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Blame is at the core of most of our emotional and spiritual disturbances. It's hard to shake off its negative consequences. The guilt that blame produces is overpowering. The weight of our failures will break us. There is no room for error in a world demanding perfect performance. <br />
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Another negative consequence is incorporating the feeling that "I am unworthy of love and deserve to be punished" into your self-image. <br />
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I call this false guilt. It's the kind of guilt my sales manager laid on us. It's the kind of guilt laid on us by parents when we were children, by a supervisor, by a spouse, or be anyone who assigns unjust blame to you.<br />
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The final crippling consequence is when you blame yourself. You condemn yourself either consciously or unconsciously. I've known and know people who are constantly apologizing for their perceived mistakes which are not really mistakes at all. Blunders are simply a part of bring human. But, living in a blame and shame environment can result in self-condemnation and self-punishment. You've suffered from this malady. I have too. I can speak from experience.<br />
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Someone has to be punished for failure and error. It's the law of retribution. Everyone looks for a scapegoat to blame. And that scapegoat is you and me. Then we play the scapegoat victim role when we punish and condemn ourselves. You feel that you have no right to feel good about yourself. How can you when everything is your fault?<br />
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What this really amounts to is brainwashing. Those who fail, those who make errors are brainwashed and lose the ability to think and feel independently. We believe falsely that we are unworthy of love and must be punished because others say we are "no good, worthless, and can't do anything right." So, we condemn and punish ourselves. We apologize profusely and say, "I won't do it again." I've done this. You have too. But guess what? You trip up again and again in an unbroken cycle of blame, guilt, and mistakes.<br />
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Is there room for error? Is there a way to break this self-destructive cycle? Not in this world. But, there is in God's world! God's world is one of grace and mercy. It is the world of Christ who accepts, affirms, forgives and loves us unconditionally. That's a world I want to live in! Don't you?<br />
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I don't have to perform perfectly in God's world. I have room created by mercy to fail. And, that's a BIG room. I didn't have to be super salesman to be accepted and affirmed by the Lord. I don't have to be the perfect husband and neither does my wife have to be the perfect spouse. My church members don't have to give 10% of their income. They don't have to attend every time the church doors are open. My children don't have to be perfect. If the the Lord accepts, understands, and forgives me, then how much more am I able to forgive, accept, understand, and affirm them.</div>
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Don't put your guilt on me! Don't point your finger at me! I'm brushing it off and saying, "Here, I don't want it. You can have it back! </div>
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I know who I am in Christ. I am His beloved son, and He ain't kicking me out of His family for dropping the ball. There's room for error, plenty of room, in His house built by Grace and Mercy. </div>
<br />
So, abide in His house. Spend plenty of time in the room of Mercy. It's my favorite room! It's in that room where Jesus took the blame and punishment for my blunders upon Himself through His sufferings and agony on the cross. He gives me what I don't deserve. Yes, I deserve blame and guilt, but He says, "Blame me. Put your guilt on me. I forgive you. You are free. I don't condemn you. Stop condemning yourself. Live in the freedom I give. Enjoy the life I give to you."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thegospelwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Sinners_Wanted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://thegospelwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Sinners_Wanted.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a>"<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text 1Tim-1-15" id="en-NCV-29590">What I say is true, and you should fully accept it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. </span><span class="text 1Tim-1-16" id="en-NCV-29591">But I was given mercy so that in me, the worst of all sinners, Christ Jesus could show that he has patience without limit</span>" (1 Timothy 1:15-16). </span><br />
<br />
Finish your devotion by listening to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgLBHEcJNL8" target="_blank">Under Grace</a>" by Darlene Zschech. Click on the link or click the arrow on the video.<br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-4363270202344739582014-04-18T15:49:00.000-04:002014-04-19T16:41:46.029-04:00Zombies vs the Easter Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">There is a fascination in our popular culture with zombies,
dead people who walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, World
War Z, a zombie movie, raked in $540 million making it one of 2013’s ten
biggest blockbusters. Think also about DVD sales, video games, comic books,
novels, Halloween costumes, zombie walks, merchandise like T-shirts,
conventions and even zombie art. Zombies are worth billions of dollars. Some
sources say it is a $5.74 billion industry or more!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Why the overwhelming interest in morbid zombies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We’re living in very uncertain times,” says
Max Brooks, who wrote the book on which the World War Z zombie film is based.
“People have a lot of anxiety about the future. They’re constantly being
battered with these very scary, very global catastrophes. I think they
(zombies) reflect our very real anxieties of these crazy scary times. A zombie
story gives people a fictional lens to see the real problems of the world. You
can deal with societal breakdown, famine, disease, chaos in the streets, but as
long as the catalyst for all of them is zombies, you can still sleep.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Legendary horror and zombie film director and screen writer
George Romero, observed, "We’re the living dead.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"We're the living dead."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's a stunning assessment of people today.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What are the characteristics of living dead zombies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How are they like people today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">First, the living dead stumble around. They are aimless in
their wonderings and have a hard time standing erect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With all the stress, worry, and demands
placed upon us today in our culture, we stumble around like dead-people walking. It's all
we can do to get through a work day, to make it to Friday, to meet the demands,
standards, and regulations bureaucrats put us through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's enough to kill the spirit, numb the
emotions, and confuse the mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Zombies are lonely. They are not very social. Like the
living dead, who really has close friends today who accept and understand you
with all your hang-ups and dysfunction?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Relationships wither and die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
don't have time for each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
too exhausted to give compassion and empathy for another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>confide and hug our pets, gaze for hours into our computers, and have
television as our constant companion. You can't even go into a doctor's waiting
room without the TV blaring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who can
make small talk to a fellow patient with that one-eyed monster dominating
everything in the room? Loneliness is deadly. Loneliness is not just making us
sick, it is killing us. Loneliness is a serious health risk. Studies of elderly
people and social isolation concluded that those without adequate social
interaction were twice as likely to die prematurely. The increased mortality
risk is comparable to that from smoking. And loneliness is about twice as
dangerous as obesity. Yes, people are lonely and not very social today. Like a
zombie, we are lonely dead people walking. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Zombies are infectious. They can turn living persons into a
zombie by biting them. Consider how a gloom and doom person can adversely
affect another person or a group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
critical person can infect another person too. A constantly critical boss,
parent, or spouse infects another causing him/her to feel worthless and
"dead" or wishing for death.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Zombies can't
communicate either. They just groan and howl. Many can't talk calmly. Like zombies, all they
do is scream and yell. Every little slight sets them off. They resort to
cursing out the perceived offender making them feel little and of no value. How
many times have you been cussed at and given the finger by another driver?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Communication is a lost art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Zombie-like yelling are the profane </span>bombs that leave behind wreckage and ruin.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And finally, Zombies can't love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They feel no emotional attachments to other
zombies or to living humans. It's like there is a bonding block. There is a
feeling that there's something missing in life, but they don't know what it
is or how to get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bonding block could come from
fear or past hurts. If I risk loving another, it will hurt. So, a wall forms
that won't allow love to be expressed or received. It's zombie-like. Without love, we are non-loving dead people walking.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The living dead zombie is pictured as the sin dead life that the
Apostle Paul appropriately describes as a spiritually dead life (Ephesians
2:5). The spiritually dead stumble around aimlessly not knowing where they are
going. They have no direction or purpose for life. It's all they can do to exist
and to put one foot in front of the other. They feel lonely and alienated
because they are alienated from God and the loving fellowship of a safe group
of believers. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The spiritually dead are infectious like a zombie that bites
a living soul and turns him/her into a walking dead person. Doom, gloom, and a
critical spirit spread from person to person like the flu. I've seen it's
fatal bite spread in a church like a deadly gas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spiritual death is also passed from
generation to generation in families. The Bible calls this the generational
curse. (See my blog on my <a href="http://revdanwhite.blogspot.com/2014/03/generational-curse.html" target="_blank">generational curse</a>). Parents who are constantly
critical of their children spread the infection to their children who grow up
criticizing their children. It's zombie-like.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The spiritually dead can't communicate. They don't know how
to relate with love, forgiveness, or assertiveness. Instead, their faces gnarl
up in anger. They blame, accuse, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">constantly confront, and condemn. They mouth
is filled with cursing instead of blessing. They become a tool of the devil
seeking someone to eat just like a zombie. (</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+5:8&version=NCV" style="font-family: Arial;" target="_blank">1 Peter 5:8</a><span style="font-family: Arial;">). The spiritually dead
can't effectively share their thoughts and feelings. They can't converse with
another without it ending in an argument. They are the walking dead.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And lastly, the spiritually dead can't love. They've
hardened their hearts to the extent that they feel nothing. They are out of
touch with their emotions and feelings and what feelings they do have are not
authentic. Some cannot even love themselves. They are filled with self-loathing
and self-hatred recoiling and lashing out at everyone like a viper. They are
the walking dead unable to live and enjoy the life and healthy relationships
God intends for us to have.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Bible says it like this, "They do not understand,
and they know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the
life that God gives. They have lost all feeling" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+4%3A18-19&version=NCV" target="_blank">Ephesians 4:18-19</a>). A spiritually
dead zombie-like person feels nothing. They are incapable of love. And what is
love?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a warm positive regard for
others. Something the walking dead cannot feel. Theirs is more like a cold
negative iciness toward others because they are as incapable of loving as a rock is of feeling.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What is the opposite of dead walking zombies? Life! It is
the Easter life lived in the same power that raised Christ from the death and
the grave!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">How is Easter life obtained? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">By faith and only by faith does a divine-human transaction
occur creating Easter life. Eugene Peterson makes this clear in his<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>paraphrase of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+10%3A9-10&version=MSG" target="_blank">Romans 10:9-10</a>. "Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus
is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">doing in us what he did
in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re
simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s
salvation." And, the living dead become truly alive!</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">God took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2%3A4-5&version=NIV" target="_blank">Ephesians2:4-5</a>). You are no longer a walking dead<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>zombie in the power grip of sin's cold grip. You become alive with God
through Christ Jesus Christ (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A11&version=NLT" target="_blank">Romans 6:11</a>).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am alive with Easter life! The resurrected life of Christ lives in
me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's the message of Easter. Out of
the cold, dark death chamber of my soul, I have been resurrected. I now live
because Christ lives in me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2%3A20&version=NIV" target="_blank">Galatians2:20</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gives life because His Spirit
lives in me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow! (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A11&version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 8:11</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am living in the power of Jesus' resurrection.
I have passed from death into life because I believe in Him. Jesus said,
"Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to
life" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A24&version=NIV" target="_blank">John 5:24</a>).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This is graphically pictured in eating the bread of the
Lord's Supper. The bread is the life of Christ entering my body, becoming a
part of me. My blood, my mind, my hands, all of me. His life, his resurrected
life lives in me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Jesus resurrected life in me is true life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have His purpose. I have His mind. I have His reason to
live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To serve and worship the Father.
To serve my fellow believers in love and to serve in love others who I meet and
know.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have the ministry of reconciliation to give make me alive
with purpose (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+5%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:18</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of alienating others by cursing them, arguing, and condemning like
the spiritually dead do, I am alive to reconcile, to bring peace, to be a
peace-maker, and to be an agent of reconciliation in my relationships. My life is infectious for the good life and bringing others to experience the reconciling power of Christ. I am alive. Truly alive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Christ is forming his image in me because His resurrection
power makes me alive.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">He is teaching me
how to manage my temper so that I don't explode in a rage which scorches and
destroys relationships and exiled to the inhospitable desert of alienation and loneliness. But thanks to the mind
of Christ in me, I am learning how to live in
peace with myself and with others. That's the transformational power of
Christ's resurrected life in me. It's really amazing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">There is so much more to life than walking around like a
dead man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is nothing like feeling gratitude,
companionship, love, satisfaction, peace, hope, comfort, and rest. It is an incredible feeling. It's real life. It's the power of Easter life through His resurrected power living in me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"I want to know Christ and the power that raised him
from the dead"
(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+3%3A10&version=NIV" target="_blank">Philippians 3:10</a>). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The anxieties from these crazy times we live in don't bother me. I know that I'm safe. I know I have eternal life. It's liberating and true
freedom. When time runs run out for me, time will just have begun. There will be no clock. Nothing will mark off the days, weeks, or years.
It will be a time that never ends in a place that Jesus prepares for me in a
spiritual body robed in eternal life which will not be destroyed through sickness, pain, or death.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">On that Hallelujah Day, the trumpet will sound for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On that day when I breathe my last breath, I
shall rise, clothed in my new body, and filled with the fullness of life given
to me by my loving Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. What a day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of Jesus' Easter morning, I </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">too will
have my own Easter morning. My life will be completed in victory, triumph, and power over death and the grave! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am walking in the Easter life now. Alive! Feeling His love. Receiving and giving His blessing. Sharing life with others. Alive! Yes! Alive!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oh! Praise His name! Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and the a Holy Ghost!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I live because He
lives!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hallelujah! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Click the link to finish your Easter devotional with Chris Tomlin singing "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bms0ZiM_KG0" target="_blank">I Will Rise</a>". Or click the arrow to start the video.</span><br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-52673542376640352082014-04-14T16:07:00.000-04:002014-04-14T16:07:17.598-04:00What Good Friday Means To Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">It was <i>my</i> pains Jesus carried—<i>my </i></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">disfigurements, all the things wrong with <i>me. </i></span></span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">We thought he brought it on himself, </span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">that God was punishing him for his own failures. </span></span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">But it was my sins that did that to him,</span><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">that ripped and tore and crushed him—my<i> sins! </i></span></span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">Jesus took the punishment, and that made me <b>WHOLE! </b></span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">Through his bruises I get healed. I am </span></span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. I've </span><span class="indent-1"><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">done my own thing, gone my own way. </span></span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">And <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span> has piled all my sins, everything I've done wrong, </span><span class="text Isa-53-2-Isa-53-6" style="position: relative;">on him, on him (</span>Isaiah 53:3-5 Message Bible). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There have been times when I have castigated myself. I inflicted punishment on myself to relieve the painful guilt and shame from my goof-ups. Yes, there have even been times when I hated myself. Like Elijah under the juniper tree, I wished to die. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+19%3A4&version=TLB" target="_blank">1 Kings 19:4</a>). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I criticized myself severely. I took on the role of a parent lashing out his/her child for accidentally spilling a glass of milk. For not making his bed. For bringing home a bad report card. For talking back or as my mother used to call it, "being sassy." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And worse perhaps than words was the corporal punishment that went along with it sometimes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then there were the times of being restricted from what I really enjoyed. I remember one time not being allowed to go and play in one of Little League baseball games. The reason for the restriction has long faded from my memory, but the feeling of regret and loss comes back to me as I write this.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Self-castigation is weird. It's like I jumped out of myself and became a parent shaking a finger at myself and pronouncing some sort of punishment to atone for my mistakes and sins. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And here's another strange thing. After inflicting punishment on myself, I felt better. Like I had been cleansed. Purged. I don't mean to be gross, but we all know that nauseous feeling after eating bad food or from a stomach virus and the relief brought after regurgitating. Purging gets rid of the impurities and makes us feel better physically. Self punishment made me feel relieved emotionally. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, I'd vow not to do it again. I apologized to my myself and promised myself not to do the bad thing again. But that didn't work. It's like the proverb Peter referred to about the pig returning to wallow in the mud after it had been cleaned up (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+2%3A22&version=TLB" target="_blank">2 Peter 2:22</a>). </span><br />
<br />
I discovered that t<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">his self-punishment thing comes from those times I felt "I'm not any good. Worthless. Of no use to myself or anybody else. I can't do nothing right." It comes from a sense of unresolved guilt feelings whether from real or false guilt. It was a vicious cycle. It was an attempt to get rid of mistakes, shortcomings, and sins by my own efforts. I couldn't make that work no matter how hard I tried. Relief came temporarily but not permanently. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I thank God that I didn't carry my self-punishment to extremes. I've known students I've taught to come to school on Mondays with fresh cuts on their arms done by their own hands. I've known kids who have pulled out their eye lashes. It seemed girls did this more than boys. Why the gender disparity? I don't know. With boys, it seems like their self-punishment would be hitting themselves or banging their heads against the wall. Yep, I've seen that as a school teacher too. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I'm not being self-righteous. Far from it. I'm just thankful for what John Wesley called "God's prevenient grace" which is revealed in God's providential care of me without me even realizing it at the time He cared for me. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So, let me say then that I'm thankful for God and His prevenient grace</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> in that I didn't punish myself </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by alcohol, drugs, or doing something like punching out a window or driving purposefully into a ditch. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As an adult, my self-punishment was more subtle. One thing I did to punish myself was over-eat. As a diabetic, when I over-eat, I get very lethargic and sleepy due to a spike in blood sugar. It's a nice way to take out your frustrations and punish yourself by over-eating instead of self-mutilation. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moreover, instead of binging on alcohol to relieve the emotional pain of guilt like many do, I binged on comfort food in an attempt to absolve and clear away my guilt feelings. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Another thing I did was to isolate. My parent-self would tell my child-self to go to his room and stay there. In my teen years, I really identified with the Beach Boys hit song, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l71pbhqnvNM" target="_blank">In My Room</a>," written by Brian Wilson. Little did I know that that Wilson had his issues too. From my standpoint, I think he tried to redeem himself through self-punishment. He spent countless hours in his room and in bed. He became addicted to drugs and alcohol to try and kill his pain - to punish himself for feelings of guilt. Eventually, he couldn't function for many years. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I can't speak for Wilson, of course. But for me, isolation was a manifestation of self-punishment after making a mistake, falling short of my self-imposed expectations or for some other failure. </span><br />
<br />
Over-eating and isolation were just two forms of several I used to punish myself for feelings of guilt that I had from a goof-up, mistake, or failure to live up to my expectations or the expectations of others.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I didn't do this stuff on purpose. It just was the way I coped. I was not self-aware and had little or no self-understanding about such things. All I knew was that it was not healthy emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. And, it certainly wasn't solving my dilemma. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What was and is the way out of this self-punishment cycle? The way out for me became my Good Friday.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Good Friday commemorates the pain, suffering, flagulation, beating, and humiliation of Jesus Christ. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> It finally dawned on me that I was doing to myself what Jesus had done for me. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And, what did Jesus do for me? He took on and bore the punishment for my goof-ups, my mistakes, my sins so that I wouldn't have to punish myself. He absolved me from ALL my guilt. He cleared me of my guilt, shame, and blame that I directed at myself. In other words, he purged my soul from what was making me nauseous and sick. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I had to make an intentional transfer of the load of guilt (both real and false guilt) that I carried to the load of the cross He carried for me. I continue to have to make that conscious transaction after those times I make mistakes, goof-ups, and failures. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I found that I can't carry guilt any more than I can carry a 100 pound sack of feed. I might carry it a little ways, but I'd have to stop and start over a again and again just like I tried to stop and start over after some failure or blunder whether it was intentional or intentional. In Christian jargon, it's called sins of commission and omission. Both bring on guilt feelings that must be reckoned with. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These guilt feelings can be temporarily absolved by my own self-effort through self-punishment, resolutions, or promises not to do it again, or they can be cleared away by transferring them to Christ through the suffering and guilt he bore for me on His cross.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I no longer have to jump outside of myself and play the stern parent and guilty child role waiting to receive punishment for my errors. Instead, I jump into Good Friday and by faith ask the Lord if He will add my sins to the burden of the cross He bears. I see Him taking my heavy load, putting it on a his back, stumbling and bleeding, taking my punishment, and making it His. This transaction releases me from feelings of condemnation, guilt, and shame caused by my failures real or imagined.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I feel truly liberated. Free! I fall to my knees and tears run down my face as I watch my Savior stumble again with the load I added to His beaten and bloody back. I shout, "Thank you!" He looks my way and manages to say, "You're welcome. I love you".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I go back to Good Friday again and again. I have to or I will resort back to the same old self-defeating pattern of self-punishment, resolutions, and failing again. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There's something about the transaction I made on Good Friday that I can't explain. There's something about feeling clean, blameless, and free from accusation </span>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1%3A22&version=NIV" target="_blank">Colossians 1:22</a>). <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I don't seem to mess up as much as I used too. I don't feel the need to punish myself by doing such things like over-eating or isolating. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What happened to me on Good Friday means life to me. He really did carry that load for me. He died that I might live and have a good life free from guilt and shame (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+2:24" target="_blank">1 Peter 2:24</a>). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And the wonderful, amazing thing is that you can add your load on top of mine for Jesus to carry. Go ahead. Make the transfer. Jesus can bear it. He wants to carry it for you. Set yourself free and live. Then come back to your Good Friday transaction every time you mess up. Break the cruel cycle of punishing yourself for your faults. Jesus will cleanse your soul and make you whole. </span><br />
<br />
To finish this time of devotion and meditation, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wwXYF0EWCw" target="_blank">click this link</a> or the arrow on the video and listen to "His Life for Mine" by the Lauren Talley. <br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-15002317787323572022014-04-10T17:18:00.000-04:002014-04-10T17:21:05.373-04:00My Approval Rating<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Politicians live and die by their approval rating. Approval
ratings are</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLfoG_akLgg6SzszOvbVuEcP39iRbEXixGJ8MfO_7VYDRcBHcoFtZwI5zamLBJG8Rf1nTzbyNWLOr4STPntScbd7PLbckeA7vBGjc4gc11Ef1ZKJ-Tarbqe0qDurfOykb6THRbwPoBEU/s1600/weatherVane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLfoG_akLgg6SzszOvbVuEcP39iRbEXixGJ8MfO_7VYDRcBHcoFtZwI5zamLBJG8Rf1nTzbyNWLOr4STPntScbd7PLbckeA7vBGjc4gc11Ef1ZKJ-Tarbqe0qDurfOykb6THRbwPoBEU/s1600/weatherVane.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> like a weather vane. A weather vane is an instrument for showing
the direction of the wind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If public
opinion is blowing to the left, the </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">politician will point left in order to gain
approval. That's why they change their positions. Very few politicians have the
courage to stand on their personal convictions of what is right and wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their positions are based on what their
constituents or the public wants. They just blow with the wind!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do this because they know that a bad
approval rating dooms their chances for re-election. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Furthermore, approval ratings are based on the publics
perception of how well or how poor they are performing in carrying out their
tasks of voting, representing the concerns of their district, state, or nation,
and being dutiful to their tasks. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We are no different than politicians. I know that I'm
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We love and need the approval and
affirmation of others. We yearn to be accepted. Approval gives us a sense of
self-hood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A feeling of belonging.
Acceptance makes us valued and esteemed. It's one of our deepest emotional
needs. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Like the politician, our approval and acceptance by others
is based on our performance and performance history. One of the many jobs I've
had in my life was working for a short time at a finance company. Loans were
based on three criteria: predictability, ability, and dependability based on
the client's credit history and current income. Approval for the loan could be
denied if just one of those criteria did not meet the standards of the loan
company. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Like qualifying standards for a loan, meeting and exceeding performance standards generally leads
to acceptance and affirmation. This is true in job evaluations and also in
personal relationships. Everyone has implied standards and expectations in a
relationship. If the other person does not meet the implied standards, then
he/she is likely to reject the other person. Just think of the marriages that
end in divorce. One or both spouses feel that the other is not meeting their
needs. Or to say it another way, their standards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Human standards are always changing just like what people expect
of their elected officers. Like the wind, expectations and standards change.
Job standards change. I know when I taught in the public school, the educrats
had nothing better to do than sit in their ivory towers and think of more
standards and more training for us to go through in order to keep our jobs. And what
about the students?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Standards constantly
change for them too. They have to pass this new standardized test or that new academic benchmark. High School students need more
and more Carnegie units to graduate from high school. It's maddening. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And like job and education standards change, so do expectations and
"standards" change in relationships. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It seems to me that we are always lacking in performing up
to the expectations of others whether it be an employer, school system, spouse, friend, or the
public. There are always critics throwing darts at us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When enough people join the dart-throwers, a
person experiences rejection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So, it's futile to seek approval and affirmation from others
to build our sense of self-worth and to feel that we are a person of value.
It's like trying to catch the wind in your hand. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We have been conditioned by the world's outlook and value
system for approval from the wrong sources. We are tilted towards the world's
way of thinking. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It's like the Christians in Corinth. They gained their
approval and significance from man. Some got their significance from Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others from Peter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And still others from Apollos. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Cor.3.1-1Cor.3.4" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 3:1-4</a>). Paul considered this infantile or very immature. Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because receiving our identity, significance, and approval from others is
useless. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I know this firsthand. I speak from experience. I sought the
approval and affirmation of anyone who I related to. Friends, colleagues,
principals, students, church committees, and denominational leaders. At times,
my approval rating was high. I felt on top of the mountain. I felt like
SOMEBODY!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was approved, accepted,
affirmed, and the accolades poured in. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But invariably, my approval rating fell. My performance
didn't meet expectations. Or, I lost my temper in front of others. Sometimes,
it was my fault. One thing I found out, people's acceptance is conditional.
They couldn't accept me with all my scratches and dents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is not much room for imperfection
especially with the incessant changing of expectations and standards that were
placed upon me in various relationships and jobs. During those times that I fell into the valley, I don't
think I could have been elected dog-catcher if I were a politician. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">During those time when my "approval rating" hit
bottom, I became depressed, sulky, and misery followed me like a stalker in a
dark alley. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">My emotions were up and down like a yo-yo. When they were
down, they were really down. When I looked up, I couldn't even see the
stars. That's what happens when you base your self-worth and approval rating on
the fickleness of man. It's a wretched way to live. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I thank God that He didn't give up on me. Like morning's
first light, then the dawn, then the mid-morning light, and finally the noon
sun shining bright, Christ slowly revealed to me the better way until He brought me into a fuller revelation of His glory. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">My addiction to the world's way of gaining positive approval
ratings was broken into a thousand pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Christ revealed to me that my life means much more than what success and
approval from others can bring. I realized that by basing my self-worth on
"approval ratings" that in effect, I was saying that their approval
was more highly valued by me than Jesus' love, acceptance, and approval. He forever demonstrated his love and acceptance of me
through His pain, suffering, and death on the cross (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A8&version=MSG" target="_blank">Romans 5:6-8</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cross is His reconciling act for me and
you. Through the cross, he extends grace and sonship. He brings us to a
Himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Because of our Lord's reconciling act on the cross, I am
completely acceptable to God (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1%3A6&version=NKJV" target="_blank">Ephesians 1:6</a>) and approved by Him no matter what I do or don't
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His standard is that He loves me
regardless of my successes and failures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, that standard never changes. NEVER!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am in a love relationship with the Lord which is not
determined or based on my performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
meet and exceed His standards not based on anything I do or don't do but because
of His measureless grace. If I could measure the length, breath, and depth of
the universe, I still could not measure His grace. If I could count the sands
of every seashore, I still could not measure His mercy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the sky were paper, I would not have
enough ink to write about His love for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Living on the roller coaster of my approval ratings?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more! I think I finally understand what
the prophet, John the Baptist, meant when He introduced the Christ by saying, "Every valley
shall be filled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every mountain brought
low"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+3%3A5&version=NKJV" target="_blank">Luke 3:5</a>). For me, it means
whether my "approval rating" is in the valley or as high as the
mountain, my emotions will always be leveled out because I have a 100 percent
approval rating from the One who matters most!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Continue your devotion and worship of the Lord by listening
to "I Will Run To You" by Darlene Zscheck and HillSong. Click on the
link or the arrow to play it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s2wCVcmYOU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s2wCVcmYOU</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8073258846425876048.post-18922066193453466102014-04-09T16:32:00.000-04:002014-04-09T16:46:34.555-04:00Jesus' Generational Curse and How He Overcame It. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Jesus inherited complex problems from his dysfunctional family background. He broke His generational curse. Because of His victory, I have been able to be victorious over my generational curse too.<br />
<br />
First, I will discuss my generational curse and then Jesus' generational curse and the victory he won over it which by faith gives me His victory over my generational curse! <br />
<br />
The generational curse can be described as a low hanging black cloud overshadowing my "I," my essential,self-hood. My emotional dysfunction is inherited from my dysfunctional parents who inherited it from their parents who inherited the curse of Adam. Every generation is under the curse. Every generation must choose to break the curse through the power of Christ who broke free from His generational curse.<br />
<br />
Not only did I inherit dysfunction from my parents, but I chose to be dysfunctional and manifest it in my emotions and relationships. I can't blame them. I have to point my finger at myself. I didn't so much blame my parents as I did others just like Adam blamed Eve.<br />
<br />
For me, I didn't understand my issues and could not heal until I first understood what they were. <br />
<br />
I experienced so much emotional pain which led to bodily pain caused by my emotional pain and stress. My chest constricted. My head ached. My stomach churned. At one time, I was on an anti-depressant just to be able to function.<br />
<br />
Unknowingly, I tried to kill the pain through unhealthy means which led to addictions. Then, the pain-killer became the pain producer I tried to relieve my pain my way which is the only way I knew. It's the way my parents relieved their pain. Dad withdrew. Mom lost her temper. There are so many other ways they coped that I can't list them all. I inherited their ways of coping from them. It didn't work for them, and it didn't work for me. That's part of the generational curse.<br />
<br />
There came a time when the pain was too much for me to bear. It drove me to seek help through counseling, group therapy, reading Christian self-help books, Scripture, and time in solitude where I did some serious thinking on who I am.<br />
<br />
I came out on the other side healed, whole, and well. The low-lying black cloud lifted, and I saw the brilliant blue sky like those I've seen in Montana. Incredible! I was free "from <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death wrought by my generational curse and my own choices to give expression to the curse I inherited from them and from Adam. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The power of Christ's victory over His generational curse lived in me through his Holy Spirit. I had </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">not realized that victory until I switched on His overcoming power through faith and acceptance of who I am in Christ. I found that salvation is more than a decision and a destiny in heaven. It is a process. The New Testament calls this "</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+10:14&version=NKJV">being sanctified</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">." </span><br />
<br />
<span class="versenum" style="vertical-align: top;">Paul expressed this power of Christ to break my generational curse in Romans 8:1-2. <b>"</b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A2&version=MSG">Message Bible</a>). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jesus inherited the generational curse too and overcame it. How was He cursed, and how did He overcome it? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jesus on earth was the God-man. He inherited his humanity from Mary. He is God through the divine </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">seed planted in Mary's womb. Yet, He inherited His generational curse from both of His earthly </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">parents. Yes, He inherited Joseph's generational curse too even though Joseph was not His father but </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">rather His step-father. </span><br />
<br />
I have two biological children and a step-daughter, the daughter of my wife, whom I adopted. Believe me, she inherited my generational curse even though I am not her biological father!<br />
<br />
The genealogy of Jesus given to us by Matthew as recorded in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1:1-16">Matthew 1:1-16,</a> is a Hall of Shame and not a Hall of Fame. Jesus' family tree on Joseph's side is populated with fornicators, murderers, adulteresses, prostitutes, liars, cursed kings, idolaters, and other sinners.<br />
<br />
God did not cover up, hide, dismiss, or ignore the dysfunctional family background of His only beloved and begotten Son. It's there standing stark naked for all to see. <br />
<br />
Out of shame and guilt, my parents taught me to hide my family's incidents of dysfunction. There were some things that others just didn't need to know about. How about you? <br />
<br />
Not so with God who sees all and knows all about us. He knows what goes on and went on in our family behind closed doors. <br />
<br />
It's not emotional healthy to keep secret the painful things that happen in our familial relationships. I could not begin my healing process until I opened up about these issues and my own issues with a "safe" person who I could trust. It was liberating and like a load came off my back.<br />
<br />
From the examples in Jesus' genealogy, God showed me how to break the bonds of shame, guilt, and dysfunction in me and my family.<br />
<br />
The Messiah's royal lineage begins with David. God did not conceal or hide David's sins and addictions. Instead, he describes his sins in excruciating detail. Look at David's addiction to sex. He committed adultery with Bathsheba even though he had several wives and many concubines who were at his beck and call. But, they were not enough. He wanted one more woman. That's the nature of addictions. He lusted for Bathsheba, a married woman even though he had a harem of women at his command.<br />
<br />
He got Bathsheba pregnant out of wedlock. Then he tried to cover his sin by bringing Uriah her husband, home from the front line of battle. Uriah refused to sleep with her as a tribute to his fellow soldiers who could not sleep with their wives. Then, David got Uriah drunk. That didn't work either. So, he sent Uriah back to the front line with orders to Joab, his commanding officer, to place him in a position of such danger that Uriah would be killed in battle.<br />
<br />
In the next generation, the generational curse was passed down to his son, Amnon, who raped Tamar, his half sister. David did nothing about it. <br />
<br />
Then, Tamar's brother and David's son, Absalom murdered Amnon. Absalom revolted against his father and drove him from the throne. Then, Absalom met a violent, shameful death at the hands of Joab and the curse continued from there. It is difficult to believe that David is the patriarch of the family through whom God would bring the King of kings!<br />
<br />
God doesn't hide or cover up sin. I tried to cover my sins. My parents tried to cover their sins. But sooner or later, they are going to be manifested publicly. An example from my life are the times I lost my temper in front of others. I was exposed for who I was. I couldn't hide it. All I could do was apologize and promise to myself that it wouldn't happen again. Yet, I was powerless in my own efforts to change. The generational curse went deep into my soul.<br />
<br />
God revealed my sins, dysfunctions, shame, and addictions to bring self-awareness through their pain for the purpose of driving me to the cross where Jesus forgives my sins. His love demonstrated through His shed blood on the cross covers my transgressions and releases me from the torment of shame and guilt.<br />
<br />
God deals with me honestly, openly, and truthfully. There is no place for shame, sham, pretense, or secrecy. Confessing that I am responsible for my dysfunction opens the door for the grace, mercy, and love of Christ to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Thessalonians+2:13&version=NKJV">work effectively</a> in me bringing healing and wholeness to my emotions and soul.<br />
<br />
Not only was David and his descendants from dysfunctional families and had addictions, but all the men in Jesus' genealogy had issues too.<br />
<br />
Skipping now to the women listed in the lineage of Jesus, they too had emotional and behavioral baggage too. Take Ruth for example. She was a Moabite. The entire Moabite race was a product of incest.<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+19:30-38"> Lot's daughter got him drunk and had sex with him</a>. The son born out of that incestuous affair was Moab, the father of the Moabites.<br />
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Then, there is Rahab. She was an immoral whore, idolatrous, and an outcast Gentile woman. Her story is told in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+2">Joshua 2.</a> Rahab was the wife of Salmon and the mother of godly Boaz who was David's great grandfather!<br />
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Did Jesus inherit the generational curse from Joseph, his step-father. Yes! The legal right to rule always came through the father's lineage. Jesus was legally Joseph's son just like my adopted daughter is legally my daughter. Jesus was legally in the royal line of David through Joseph. He had every right to rule.<br />
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The other genealogy of Jesus is recorded by Luke. Luke gives the human, biological genealogy of Christ through Mary that includes David in that family tree. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mary is not implicitly mentioned by name, but the record in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+3%3A23-38&version=NIVUK">Luke</a> begins with Mary's father, Heli. Mary also has David for an ancestor.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When the genealogies recorded by Matthew and Luke arrive at David, they split with David's sons </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">showing Nathan on Mary's side </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and Solomon on </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Joseph's side. Thus, Jesus got a double dose of the generational curse. He inherited it from Joseph, his step-father, and Mary, his mother. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The genealogy of Jesus and the generational curse passed down to Him through dysfunctional families in his genealogy shows the transforming power of God's grace to break the generational curse! Jesus broke the curse! He inherited the sin nature but didn't sin! He was tempted in every way that I am tempted to yield to the sin nature or the flesh as the Apostle Paul called it. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jesus is a friend of sinners. He understood the generational curse and struggled with it too. However, he chose never to allow its manifestation in his emotions or mind and won the victory over the curse! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What's amazing about grace is seen in David. David openly confessed his sin and was forgiven. God </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">removed David's shame and guilt even though the consequences of his sin was passed down to </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">succeeding generations just like in my lineage.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Each generation is responsible and each generation must break the curse through the love and forgiveness of God through </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rahab, the harlot, became a true convert of the living God and trusted in the God to come who was Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The dysfunctional family background of Jesus strikes a knock-out blow to the face of the genealogical curse because he overcame the curse <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4:15">through His sinless and perfect life. </a>I am saved by </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ROM+5:9-10">the life of Christ</a> as well as the death of Christ. Through the death of Christ, I die to sin and the curse. By His resurrection, I am raised a new creature with His resurrection power of the Holy Ghost living in me. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">God in His mercy through Christ does for me what I cannot do in liberating myself from my generational curse. I cannot break out of the binding chains myself. Only Christ heals me, mends my broken life, removes my guilt, shame, secrecy, and sham and restores my shattered hope. </span><br />
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Today, I am free from the curse. My inner voice of shame that called out <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">has been silenced! The accusing voice that screamed, "I'm </span>not good enough. Something is wrong with me. I'm unworthy. I can't forgive. I cannot be forgiven. I can't admit I did that and must cover it. I'm rejected and not accepted. I am inadequate."<br />
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My inner voice of shame has been silenced by the deafening roar of love, acceptance, and forgiveness of Christ demonstrated by His death on the cross. He loved me. He loves me to this day. And, He will love me tomorrow.<br />
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That inner voice of shame caused me pain and almost destroyed me mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.<br />
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Now, I hear the voice that I am esteemed by God. I am His child. I am forgiven. I am a spring of living water. I am treasured and valued. I am accepted. I am a branch growing from His vine. That is what I hear. I choose to hear that voice and not the other voice. I choose life and not death. I choose to be defined by the blessing and not the curse! I choose to focus on the redeeming power and grace of Almighty God through Christ in my life. That's how my generational curse is broken. That's how I am free and the only way I can remain free. <br />
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That redeeming power and grace brought me out to live under the blue skies of peace, joy, and blessedness.<br />
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<u>Note</u>: I am grateful to my friend and counselor, Rev. Roger Bennett, pastor of Overcomers Outreach Center. His sermon, "Lesson to Be Learned from the Dysfunctional Family Background of Jesus: Breaking the Bonds of Shame" was of great help in my understanding and victory over my generational curse.<br />
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To finish this devotional, I invite you to listen and worship the Lord through this powerful song by Darlene Zschech and HillSong, "In Jesus' Name." <br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVsRM55_jsE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVsRM55_jsE</a> or click the arrow to play it.<br />
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The Rolling Pen by Dan Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167966120194320084noreply@blogger.com0