Tera, my wife, does to me what Mary Jane does to Spiderman. I know that I’m not a superhero, but she sure does make me feel like one.
posted by Tera @ 11:20 PM
Comments: 5
Exposing Myself on a Regular Basis
“All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you. I never had a selfless thought since I was born. I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through: I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn. Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek, I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin: I talk of love -a scholar's parrot may talk Greek- But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin." - C S Lewis
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Just saw Spiderman 2.
Tera, my wife, does to me what Mary Jane does to Spiderman. I know that I’m not a superhero, but she sure does make me feel like one.
Tera, my wife, does to me what Mary Jane does to Spiderman. I know that I’m not a superhero, but she sure does make me feel like one.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Conservatism, Liberalism, Censorship and Smoking - There, I think that I covered about all of it. However, unlike my normal rants about untruths in the secular world, I am referring to the Christian society.
As many of you know, I am – in the political sense – a strong conservative and for most of my life the same could be said about my Christian walk as well. However I have changed. Questions kept coming up in my heart that required answers that needed substance – more than pulling a verse out of context and trying best to make it fit. A wondering mind in the spiritual world is a dangerous thing – or so I thought. To be honest, I dreaded having a spiritual debate against anyone secular because I would shake at the thought that I could never think of the right verse to say or they would ask me a question that I didn’t know about. Now debating against a fellow Christian was an entirely different subject. I could pull verses out of my ass and fit them to show that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God, I mean I was right – fight for the cause of being right!
Questions kept coming up in current events that required me to think outside the Christian bookstore. For instance, “if I am a child of Abraham, how can the Muslim faith be wrong?” I have yet to read the Curran and I have no clue about what they believe. Furthermore, most that read it are looking for some evidence that Muslims are wrong and they are right. That being said, if I believe that the Jesus of the bible is the only way to the Father, and Abraham and all the ancestors of the Old Testament lived before Jesus, were the ancestors doomed? Who am I to say that you are going to hell in a hand basket if you don’t know Christ? I’m not sure that Jesus went from town to town condemning people and whacking them upside the head with a bible preaching the “good” news. Nope. It was a love and passion for people that far exceeds our ability to comprehend.
I have been a Christian for about 25 years. I have had my first spiritual discussion with a person that doesn’t believe in the Father. From that conversation I realized that I believe in the Father, not because the bible tells me so, but because of the love I can see, because everything I see in this world points to a creator. I believe in Jesus not only because the bible tells me so but because of the love that he displayed and the interaction between him and the Father. It is something that I can’t deny. I could go on but you get the point.
Check this interesting little tidbit out.
I saw a shirt the other day that that was against censorship. I’m not sure as to why they were against it, but I thought, what the hell, I’ll comment on it. Censorship is for kids. Those that are against censorship don’t have kids or they shouldn’t. Without censorship, my 5 year old would walk up to me and say “damn dad, those pants make your ass look huge! Change them out you f***ing retard!” - I’ll vote to keep censorship thank you.
Did you know that C.S. Lewis smoked a pipe? Yup, and I am confident enough in my faith that I can too. God aint that picky. Being addicted to cigarettes is one thing, puffing on the sweet nectar of pipe tobacco is a another beautiful thing indeed. I can see it now: God sitting there in all his glory and explaining to me as to why I can’t be in his presence because he can’t stand pipe smoke. – Please, tell those people that are trying to convince you that it is wrong to go wash their car or do something productive.
As many of you know, I am – in the political sense – a strong conservative and for most of my life the same could be said about my Christian walk as well. However I have changed. Questions kept coming up in my heart that required answers that needed substance – more than pulling a verse out of context and trying best to make it fit. A wondering mind in the spiritual world is a dangerous thing – or so I thought. To be honest, I dreaded having a spiritual debate against anyone secular because I would shake at the thought that I could never think of the right verse to say or they would ask me a question that I didn’t know about. Now debating against a fellow Christian was an entirely different subject. I could pull verses out of my ass and fit them to show that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God, I mean I was right – fight for the cause of being right!
Questions kept coming up in current events that required me to think outside the Christian bookstore. For instance, “if I am a child of Abraham, how can the Muslim faith be wrong?” I have yet to read the Curran and I have no clue about what they believe. Furthermore, most that read it are looking for some evidence that Muslims are wrong and they are right. That being said, if I believe that the Jesus of the bible is the only way to the Father, and Abraham and all the ancestors of the Old Testament lived before Jesus, were the ancestors doomed? Who am I to say that you are going to hell in a hand basket if you don’t know Christ? I’m not sure that Jesus went from town to town condemning people and whacking them upside the head with a bible preaching the “good” news. Nope. It was a love and passion for people that far exceeds our ability to comprehend.
I have been a Christian for about 25 years. I have had my first spiritual discussion with a person that doesn’t believe in the Father. From that conversation I realized that I believe in the Father, not because the bible tells me so, but because of the love I can see, because everything I see in this world points to a creator. I believe in Jesus not only because the bible tells me so but because of the love that he displayed and the interaction between him and the Father. It is something that I can’t deny. I could go on but you get the point.
Check this interesting little tidbit out.
I saw a shirt the other day that that was against censorship. I’m not sure as to why they were against it, but I thought, what the hell, I’ll comment on it. Censorship is for kids. Those that are against censorship don’t have kids or they shouldn’t. Without censorship, my 5 year old would walk up to me and say “damn dad, those pants make your ass look huge! Change them out you f***ing retard!” - I’ll vote to keep censorship thank you.
Did you know that C.S. Lewis smoked a pipe? Yup, and I am confident enough in my faith that I can too. God aint that picky. Being addicted to cigarettes is one thing, puffing on the sweet nectar of pipe tobacco is a another beautiful thing indeed. I can see it now: God sitting there in all his glory and explaining to me as to why I can’t be in his presence because he can’t stand pipe smoke. – Please, tell those people that are trying to convince you that it is wrong to go wash their car or do something productive.
posted by Tera @ 12:34 PM
Comments: 2
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Apex thoughts part II
The phrase “sounds like a lot of work to me” keeps coming to mind (thanks to Wayne). The walk with the Father isn’t supposed to be complicated. If it is, something has become too worldly. This life is way too important to be sidetracked with trying to figure out what “church” is. There is too much at stake to be quivering about the quantity or quality of one perceived church. If that is what it has become for you, I feel bad. This spiritual walk is supposed to be smooth. Remember what it was like to not know the Father? And now that you know Him, look at the life he has given you. See the peace that has surrounded you? It is the essence of beauty. Out of that beauty life flows abundantly. The relationships that you have received, through Christ, are also effortless. The conversations from spiritual families that you know now seem to sprout up everywhere you go. This all doesn’t happen because you forced it to. All of this is from the Father’s love for you. So bask in it and enjoy those that walk along side of you on this journey. Why worry about an organization? Let the Father give you these gifts and you just spend time enjoying them. Make some phone calls and meet on Sunday night at the park if that does it for you.
I am grateful for the family that the Father has given to me. I ache for them when they are away from us for a longer period of time (more than 3 days). Gene and Adam always are there for me. They know me almost as much as my beautiful wife – not more cuse that aint right?. I feel like Serenity is my daughter. Some of our family has been away for 3 weeks and we miss them terribly. This is family, because I prayed and fasted to God that I wanted a family and that if he gave me one I would never ask for anything again– NOT. It fell into my lap. If you heard about our past you would see that the odds of us becoming a family were totally against us. I guess that all I’m trying to say is that keep your head up. The path to completion sometimes isn’t beautiful, but just wait to see what he has in store for us.
The phrase “sounds like a lot of work to me” keeps coming to mind (thanks to Wayne). The walk with the Father isn’t supposed to be complicated. If it is, something has become too worldly. This life is way too important to be sidetracked with trying to figure out what “church” is. There is too much at stake to be quivering about the quantity or quality of one perceived church. If that is what it has become for you, I feel bad. This spiritual walk is supposed to be smooth. Remember what it was like to not know the Father? And now that you know Him, look at the life he has given you. See the peace that has surrounded you? It is the essence of beauty. Out of that beauty life flows abundantly. The relationships that you have received, through Christ, are also effortless. The conversations from spiritual families that you know now seem to sprout up everywhere you go. This all doesn’t happen because you forced it to. All of this is from the Father’s love for you. So bask in it and enjoy those that walk along side of you on this journey. Why worry about an organization? Let the Father give you these gifts and you just spend time enjoying them. Make some phone calls and meet on Sunday night at the park if that does it for you.
I am grateful for the family that the Father has given to me. I ache for them when they are away from us for a longer period of time (more than 3 days). Gene and Adam always are there for me. They know me almost as much as my beautiful wife – not more cuse that aint right?. I feel like Serenity is my daughter. Some of our family has been away for 3 weeks and we miss them terribly. This is family, because I prayed and fasted to God that I wanted a family and that if he gave me one I would never ask for anything again– NOT. It fell into my lap. If you heard about our past you would see that the odds of us becoming a family were totally against us. I guess that all I’m trying to say is that keep your head up. The path to completion sometimes isn’t beautiful, but just wait to see what he has in store for us.
posted by Tera @ 4:21 PM
Comments: 0
Saturday, June 12, 2004
I feel bad that my friend has to apologize for the “lack of communication” regarding the whole Apex thing. For as long as I can remember, Apex has been beating people over their heads about this whole church thing (I’ve got this whole thing going on – how you like?). Apex has been saying “get into a community of people” – and by the way, if I mention community again I’ll pop. Hell, most churches in our culture say to “get connected” in some way shape or form. I know that most of them are saying this out of a desire for you to keep coming back and giving your money to them so that they can build another building on their 40 acre plot of land all in order to serve their people and keeping their eyes shut as they watch a struggling, single mom walk in with her three kids and knowing all the while that she really could use an extra $20k to pay off just one of her credit cards. Oh but that wouldn’t be very productive because it is obvious that she can’t handle money. Please don’t reply that there isn’t any one struggling mom that is in your church system. That is the only reason that they are there – in hopes that they might find shelter. I hope that I am not being to blunt – please forgive me.
Tangent – sorry.
I am a little tired of people scratching their ….head about what are they going to do with the other three days of the month now that Apex will not be serving their needs. Here’s a thought – start serving someone else’s needs. Maybe just maybe you’ll get a true taste of what the Kingdom of God is all about. I got to tell you guys, the core of Apex has it right. Of all the churches that I’ve seen, Apex’s “leaders” truly seek the will of God and they don’t give a damn how popular it is. They tell you to get into a house church not to make them more money (as far as I know, they probably lost more “tithing” because of this concept), they tell you this because they know that you will learn and grow more rapidly in this system of exploration than the current system of stagnation. Those of you that have been coming to the Sunday night Show can see something different than the other churches – that is the only reason that you would come on a regular basis. Instead of just sitting there being entertained, haven’t you heard any of what Joe, Greg, or Jeremy have been saying? What about all of the “retreats” that you have been on? Have the messages fallen on deaf ears? Or did you go just for the comfortable beads?
If I come across as a little angry, I am. I am disappointed in the attitude that many of you have taken. I can’t understand that you say that you read the bible but never act on the message that was given to you time and time again. The Father wants you to live an adventurous life and more importantly, he wants to live it with you.
Tangent – sorry.
I am a little tired of people scratching their ….head about what are they going to do with the other three days of the month now that Apex will not be serving their needs. Here’s a thought – start serving someone else’s needs. Maybe just maybe you’ll get a true taste of what the Kingdom of God is all about. I got to tell you guys, the core of Apex has it right. Of all the churches that I’ve seen, Apex’s “leaders” truly seek the will of God and they don’t give a damn how popular it is. They tell you to get into a house church not to make them more money (as far as I know, they probably lost more “tithing” because of this concept), they tell you this because they know that you will learn and grow more rapidly in this system of exploration than the current system of stagnation. Those of you that have been coming to the Sunday night Show can see something different than the other churches – that is the only reason that you would come on a regular basis. Instead of just sitting there being entertained, haven’t you heard any of what Joe, Greg, or Jeremy have been saying? What about all of the “retreats” that you have been on? Have the messages fallen on deaf ears? Or did you go just for the comfortable beads?
If I come across as a little angry, I am. I am disappointed in the attitude that many of you have taken. I can’t understand that you say that you read the bible but never act on the message that was given to you time and time again. The Father wants you to live an adventurous life and more importantly, he wants to live it with you.
posted by Tera @ 5:09 PM
Comments: 1
Saturday, June 05, 2004
For Memorial Day, we all went to Flagstaff, AZ for a 4 day sabbatical. I took three naps, made two bow and arrows for my boys and sat back and thought about life. To say the least, we needed this badly. I’ve been working 6 days a week for over 4 years and only getting 3 day weekends to travel and visit family who usually require more of our time. We as a family have yet to take a vacation by ourselves. This is mostly our fault because we love people.
The thoughts that I contemplated: I have been working 6 days a week and receiving the almost the same pay for almost 5 years now. During this time, I have had two additional kids, started paying for my health insurance and life insurance, started paying for all my gas, and no longer have a company vehicle (I’m sure I’m missing some items here but use your imagination wont you). Somehow we are still here. I don’t get it. The sick thing was, while I was in Flagstaff, I saw 10 or more cabins for sale for $85k each. I swear I could sell my “mansion” and live in the woods, make wooden things, sell them at yard sales and probably make more money than I am right now – AND spend my life with my KIDS!!! (on a tangent, while I was writing this, a kid came in my store and puked – weeeee) My dream would be to spend most of my time teaching my kids about the Father and this world. From exploring the tiniest ladybug to the largest cave, from serving the family around you to watching the father work. I guess it is more or a fantasy than a dream, ro maybe its just fool’s hope.
I hear my boys singing “open the eyes of my heart Lord” all the while not comprehending its meaning. I can’t help but think that their “lack” of understanding in their eyes is more that why would you need to sing this song when He is blatantly in front of you. I am starting to think that the spiritual things of this world are often best viewed through the eyes of a child. They never use the smoke and mirrors of this world to observe things in the spiritual world.
And another thing….
I changed the quote on top. I think that quote best fits my views and philosophy. I am starting to grasp the reality that the Father wants the same relationship with us as He had with Jesus on the earth. Yes I know that Jesus is God and I am not nor will I ever be. I’m referring to the way Jesus and the Father interacted. Jesus did what he saw the Father do. It was and is pure love. I am not even close to getting this perfected and I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point, but I know beyond all reason that I am loved and desired. I also know that God doesn’t need us at all, he desires us with a passion that knows no end.
And another - another thing….
Read Wayne’s blog on settlers and pilgrims – WOW! I don’t know about the whole clergyman and bishop thing, but the rest is great. Bishop and Clergyman = man’s attempt to establish a secular hierarchy into a kingdom that knows only one master and teacher.
The thoughts that I contemplated: I have been working 6 days a week and receiving the almost the same pay for almost 5 years now. During this time, I have had two additional kids, started paying for my health insurance and life insurance, started paying for all my gas, and no longer have a company vehicle (I’m sure I’m missing some items here but use your imagination wont you). Somehow we are still here. I don’t get it. The sick thing was, while I was in Flagstaff, I saw 10 or more cabins for sale for $85k each. I swear I could sell my “mansion” and live in the woods, make wooden things, sell them at yard sales and probably make more money than I am right now – AND spend my life with my KIDS!!! (on a tangent, while I was writing this, a kid came in my store and puked – weeeee) My dream would be to spend most of my time teaching my kids about the Father and this world. From exploring the tiniest ladybug to the largest cave, from serving the family around you to watching the father work. I guess it is more or a fantasy than a dream, ro maybe its just fool’s hope.
I hear my boys singing “open the eyes of my heart Lord” all the while not comprehending its meaning. I can’t help but think that their “lack” of understanding in their eyes is more that why would you need to sing this song when He is blatantly in front of you. I am starting to think that the spiritual things of this world are often best viewed through the eyes of a child. They never use the smoke and mirrors of this world to observe things in the spiritual world.
And another thing….
I changed the quote on top. I think that quote best fits my views and philosophy. I am starting to grasp the reality that the Father wants the same relationship with us as He had with Jesus on the earth. Yes I know that Jesus is God and I am not nor will I ever be. I’m referring to the way Jesus and the Father interacted. Jesus did what he saw the Father do. It was and is pure love. I am not even close to getting this perfected and I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point, but I know beyond all reason that I am loved and desired. I also know that God doesn’t need us at all, he desires us with a passion that knows no end.
And another - another thing….
Read Wayne’s blog on settlers and pilgrims – WOW! I don’t know about the whole clergyman and bishop thing, but the rest is great. Bishop and Clergyman = man’s attempt to establish a secular hierarchy into a kingdom that knows only one master and teacher.
posted by Tera @ 1:01 PM
Comments: 0