Prayer: a little dose of honesty.
I have been doing this whole Christian thing since I was in third grade. It has been a great journey so far and lately it has been a blast. For the past three years I have been exploring God. I have been trying to understand him and see him without the confines of the American church structure. I have seen more in three years than I have in my whole life but I think that I am only at the start of my journey.
What irks me is that though I may seek him, I can’t seem to find the time to just talk to him in prayer. I do pray but it is always seems short and sometimes without substance. I wonder if constantly thinking about Him and His works is the same as praying? I realize that the bible is a tool and that there are other things out there that scream His presence. I wonder in the same way: if praying is a form of communication, are there more forms out there? Am I utilizing another form of prayer?
The Womb
What if earth was a spiritual womb?
Earth – a breading ground for souls.
If there is a God and heaven is real, what is earth?
If heaven is eternal and the earth is not, which one is reality?
How can both be a reality?
Is there a relationship between heaven and earth?
A mind can not comprehend a universe without an end but it does exist.
A mind can not comprehend eternity but it does exist.
Earth – a proving ground for eternity.
If eternity exists, does it have a ruler?
It that is true then eternity’s ruler has unlimited power.
A mind can not comprehend unlimited power.
If there is a ruler, why have earth?
Conclusion – love.
Last Monday, Keith paid us a visit at our house church. What a cool guy. He ate while we finished up a set on HALO. We then sat at the table and talked for about 2 hours while sipping some 18 year old scotch. That sounds bad – we only had a shot or two. It was very comfortable. It is a great thing to hear of other people’s journeys in life. It is, in a strange way, very encouraging. The cool thing was that there wasn’t a bunch of preaching or bible reading. It was just plain life amongst friends and believers. Spiritual stuff was discussed, but that wasn’t the point of us being there. I have learned that “house church” in its simplest form is living life together and letting others in on it. When Thura started off, we did it big church style in a small venue. It was similar to Miller’s MGD concert series - Big band, small club (how’s that for practical application?). It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. Since then, I have grown to love each of our spiritual family nicknamed “Thura”. My wife and kids will be mentioned enough throughout my blog. Stacy, Lisa, and Serenity are more than sisters to me. I can’t put into words how much they mean to me. Then there is Gene. My brother. Very rarely does anyone have such a spiritual bond as us. David and his friend ______ (King Saul’s son) comes to mind, however King Saul’s son’s name doesn’t. Our spiritual passions are virtually the same in every way.
Despite my ramblings, we are a very close group of people. So come on by on Monday night and I’ll share some of Gene’s scotch with you. We will talk of the good old days of past and of the good old days that are yet to come. Just be prepared to eat, drink and be merry.
you guys have got to check out tera's
site. I'm proud of her. It's funny, I now get to see her thoughts as well.
Sure could use a little good news today. – Ann Murry
I saw the Hillery Clintton interview. It made me sick. First off, I am not a fan – not even close. However, that isn’t the point. What made me sick it that the reality of our world smacked me right in the face.
We live in a world that is full of information. Most of this information comes by way of news. We are told the latest on the war effort, current events, weather, sports, etc. by news organizations that utilize the same ratings scale as prime time shows like “friends”, and “survivor”. Since they are vying for the top spot, they are going to put the most attractive stories on their news cast. The most attractive news story is not synonymous with the truth.
If this argument is incorrect, then why is a book advertised on the news? Why not advertise it with commercials? This is wrong.
The American opinion regarding the Israel and Palestine conflict always leans towards Israel. Why, with the news that we see, it is not unexpected. We hear of Palestinians going to a crowd of people and blowing themselves up. We think that that wouldn’t be acceptable behavior in America nor anywhere else. For the most part, we are right. However, we never see an interview with a Palestinian. Why? They are people too, right? Maybe we see them as barbarians? After all, this is the news that we are talking about. We probably would prefer to see an interview with an Israeli family who just lost a family member to a suicide bomber. The bomber was a Palestinian whose family had just been destroyed by the Israeli Army and now is struggling under an oppression to survive.
I recently had the opportunity to interview a close friend who happened to be Palestinian. He is an older gentleman with great wisdom. I asked him some blunt questions and received a world of information. Such as that the Israeli army has occupied Palestine with an iron fist that is similar to the Germans occupying Poland in WWII. The Palestinians have no weapons to speak of. Their arsenal is composed of rocks, cars and now dynamite. To us Americans, this seems extreme, but to Palestinians who have nothing to live for, it is their last hope. My friend told me that, in the past, the amount of Palestinians killed per Israeli was 400 to 1. Now with the suicide bombings, that number has closed to 20 to 1. This is not joyous news, but perhaps both sides experiencing loss there might be a chance for the sides to step back and take a fresh look at the situation. I believe that there will never be peace in that country. Our President might be courageous by trying to help, but the people that are the leaders are not peacemakers.
If you don’t believe me then do some research. Look into Ariel Sharone’s (Israel’s Prime Minister) past. You will find that his past is littered with bodies.
Final thoughts –
I belong to Christ only. He paid a huge price for me. He freed me from a dark bondage but with that price, I now am his. The world that we live in will not change this fact. However, we need to be aware of people in this world who are in oppressive bondage. With this knowledge, we should not be silent --- ANYMORE.
I have been told that there are some couples that are struggling to survive in marriage. This is of no surprise since the current divorce rate is about 50-70% depending on which report that you hear.
For those of you that don’t know me deeply, let me shed some light on my life.
I come from a divorced family. Dad left when I was 3 years old. For the most of my adolescent life, I never really knew my father. My summers were spent in front of the window waiting for my dad to pick me up and take me to flagstaff (about 2 hours away) for 2 weeks. He didn’t keep good time so most of the day I waited to see my dad’s truck. Dad was and is a hard working man who didn’t get the summer off. So, I spent a lot of time with my step brother while waiting for my dad to get off work. That is about it for my young life. As you can see, I didn’t have a good idea of what a dad and a husband looked like.
I told myself that I would be the best father and husband that I could be despite my circumstances, and, no mater what, I would not quit. I will never put my offspring through that kind of life.
I met my wife in seventh grade. We virtually grew up together. It seems that it has always been Andrew and Tera. We started dating in 1988 and got married in 1995. My wife has been my best friend for all of those years. I don’t have a glorious fix all answer to anybodies marital problems, save for this:
Be crazy about your spouse. I mean really crazy. Guys, women are simple – you pursued her before you married her, and I assume it worked, so don’t stop.
Never, I mean never, speak negatively about the one you love – you picked her, it only speaks volumes about you.
Know your spouse well enough that the “discussion” can resume in the morning. Sometimes being too tired can cause more problems that the ones that you started with.
Make it crystal clear by your actions and attitudes that you will not entertain the thought of another.
I could go on, but izz gots to go.
