Well, at least there’s that...

  Growing up I heard the  exchange between Jesus and (in Mark 10)“the rich young ruler” recounted many different ways. Doesn't the Bible say shortly after this conversation:"How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God”... Imagine my surprise as I heard a very different opinion in a message today (10/04/20) at Church on the Move in Broken Arrow from Pastor Ethan Vance.  In verses 17-23 the rich young ruler  ran to Jesus. He desperately bowed down at Jesus feet and asks , “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied by rehearsing the law, which the rich young ruler already knew.  The man replied , “ I’ve done all of that since I was a child.” (My wording). He wanted more than he already knew. He realized something was missing. I don’t think he realized he was talking to the one who came to bring us what was missing: relationship with himself.  Throughout the years I heard this story recounted with the instructions “don’t let wealth ow

  I have a unique spiritual outlook on the subject of "knowing someone".  I have never lived in one place, until recently, more than five years at a time. It's really hard to get to know anyone like that. My instinct was to tell the new person everything about me, weaknesses, flaws, failures...my hope was that they would realize those places were bruised and leave them alone. I couldn't be more wrong. Even those who have gentle hearts can puncture a soul unintentionally. Those who are evil puncture souls for pain's sake.  It takes time to get to know someone. Why should it be any different with Jesus? I've heard so many sermons on "Knowing Jesus". I've been led to believe that I should just "know Him.," because I'm born again.  How do we get to know someone? Well, first we do what is called "bidding". "Relationship Cure"( by Dr. John Gottman). I say something, you say something, we watch each other respond to dif

This is not an original perspective, but I don’t remember who said it. So, #theworld . Lol.  I’ve heard the story of Jesus and the table tossing event most of my life and was convinced it was for purely “spiritual reasons “ because these people were betraying the house of God. That’s true, but Jesus had been attacked  verbally and threatened physically by people who were not “good”. So why did this situation bring him to such holy anger that he would table toss? This event happened one week before his betrayal. Was he “venting”?  Here’s the reason. It’s the same reason I am angry at the destruction I see in America.  There are no riots where I live . Most people get along very well, so why does it anger me? In the temple the representatives of God were hurting His people .   They were taking advantage of those who had no advantage.  When I see looters burning buildings and destroying years of hard work ... I get angry. If table tossing would help, I’d be the first in line.  Why aren’t

I have heard the words,, "Consider this"... many times throughout my life, but today I have a different perspective on that phrase. Has anyone ever said anything to you that made you question our own intelligence, your abilities, your talents ,your purposes or even... your purchases? Uh oh! Recently I purchased a puppy.  My "Lincoln" passed away last year (Australian Shepherd). He was the love of my life for ten years. He was a stabilizing force in my unstable world of change.  When he passed away I tried to go it alone. If any of you have lost your best friends you know it's not that easy. Months passed and I brought another shepherd into my home, hoping to find the same temperament, but there was no connection between us. I worked with him and he stopped chewing, became potty trained and even stopped digging. He was 10 months old, so we had some bad habits to break. I could never love him like I did Lincoln. Now, "Captain Obvious" nothing can be repl

Do you feel hopeless and helpless? There are thousands, if not millions of people who feel the same way.  I want to scream “somebody do something! “ The next day I wake to the same thing and repeat my cry “somebody do something!” I can honestly say that I do not know what to do. We are the light of this world, we are salt and light.  I find myself asking “what can I do ?” And honestly feel defeated.  It’s like evil has the microphone and I can’t push the mute button...no “rational” commercial breaks. No breaks at all.   It has affected my soul and left me feeling hopeless. I still don’t know what “to do”. I even spoke with a police officer and said “can’t ‘We The People’ go to the places where anarchy is ruling, take our guns, as citizens and take our cities back?” I was upset at the truth. “Our second amendment does not allow for a citizen to put his/herself in harms way.”  The police are what holds evil in check. Their hands are bring tied to bricks, people are throwing things at the

Is your world as full of  "What?" as mine is? I do not turn on the TV anymore. People are crazy! I've been looking for things that will not change...wow...that was hard. Here are some examples of things that do not change. If you water grass, or even weeds, they will grow. When the sun goes down the moon rises. There will be a tomorrow and then there will be a yesterday. The planet will continue to turn.  Here's proof: I Corinthians 4:8-9 "Now he who plants and he who waters are one,  i  and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.   9   For  j  we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are  k  God's building." There are things that I could change: my mind, my size, my taste, my favorite color, my hobbies....  These are things that change in the world: temperature, temperament, politics (Don't even get me started), fashion, perceptions of right and wrong (Note I did not say right and wrong

Thank you Pastor Steven Furtick. You inspired me... I've often lived in a world that is black and white. Not speaking of persons of different colors, no. I didn't understand the "gray" zone. , My world was "ALL OR NOTHING!" If a person is bad, that's just who they are. If a person is kind, that's who they are. That's not possible. There are times when I'm angry, that does not make me an "angry" person. There are times when I'm hurt, but that's only one part of me. Pastor Furtick talks about all the parts of us that we want to pretend don't exist. I hope you enjoy this. I've been trying to find the US in life. We all live with US, everyday, every minute...it's hard. When I speak about US I am not speaking about you and me necessarily. I am speaking of me and the ghosts of my past. Pastor Furtick put it like this, "G - guilt, H - hopelessness - O- offenses, S- sorrow, T- threats". He made some

This blog may get under your skin. I hope it does. It came about because of a dream. This dream struck me to my core. It is as follows: White people with cameras were lined up on the streets. All dressed in their “Sunday best”. They were going to black neighborhoods and snatching black children for photo opps. I saw this happening and it made me angry. Even other black people were literally snatching up these children for photo opps.  The children were running, crying and screaming, but no one was listening.  They just wanted pictures of how well they were treating these children. I went to that neighborhood and just walked around. The children ran from me because I was white. They were afraid that I wanted to exploit them, dress them up then throw them away.  I found one child in distress and I went to her. She started to run, but I just held out my arms crying myself. She came to me.  She was all dressed up and trying to eat her dinner when someone had taken her just

I swear I have tried to figure out how to love my enemies. It appears that I'm just not that good. I've met many of my enemies and I find nothing to love in them. Trust me, I've tried. So, today's thoughts center around truth. I'm not talking about the truth of others, or even what I've been told was "God's Truth".  I'm talking about living, breathing, loving truth. I confused intimacy, friendship and vulnerability with the meaning of love, Dear God, how much time have I wasted? So, I've been looking at the Old Testament and the New Testament. I wanted to know what God thought  about his enemies, my enemies. In the Old Testament he pretty much told Israel to "Wipe them out!" Unless he had a reason. When the nation of Israel took the promised land God told them not to wipe out all of the enemies, just yet. He had a great reason. "If you wipe them all out the wild animals and weeds will take over the land. You don't

Own it... or don't. I heard a song on the radio today that I hadn't heard before and it started me thinking. I couldn't tell you who sang it or the title, but I remember this line: "This is my day". Who owns your day? I hear all the religious people saying, "God does?" Okay, if he does, what does he want you to do with it? Easy question. The Bible is pretty clear... 'Love God, love others." That's a wrap... Actually I own my day. I can't give something away that I don't own, that would be stealing. Follow me on this rabbit trail if you will. I've spent a great deal of time waiting. Waiting for...the right time, things to get better, me to be stronger, life to get fair...ha! Guess what? Those are all lies. Honestly, and this is not meant to depress you, but sometimes things do not get better, rarely is life fair and sometimes I don't know how to get stronger. Sometimes life sucks big time. I own it. I own the fact th