A Whale of a Tale...

I can't even come up with words. And that's saying something!!!

Pet Peeve

I woke early this morning to this in my Inbox >>>






If I have one pet peeve that I can't seem to get over it's email hoaxes and urban legends. It's not the literal hoax/legend itself that really bothers me, it's the people that continue to spread it around as the truth, especially if that person proclaims to be a Christian.

What disappoints me most about this is that it literally takes minutes to investigate these things on the internet. Here are just a few sites that have already debunked this one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_to_Hell_hoax

http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/d/drilltohellfacts.htm

http://www.freebase.com/view/en/well_to_hell_hoax

Make no mistake about it ~ hell is real ~ but this is totally false. And quite honestly if someone preaches the Truth of the Gospel, plain and simple, the rest will fall into place.

~~Jesus Wants the Rose~~

Jesus Wants the Rose is the title to this video but I thought a more appropriate name could be something like... The Missing Point of the Gospel.

Somehow the sum of the Gospel message is getting lost. The beautiful essence of His Truth is being contaminated with the need for more, bigger, better, etc. I could use more adjectives but I hope you get my point.




We might view this broken useless rose as garbage but God does not...

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)

He's right. We are the Rose and God wants us ~ even when no one else does.

Church or Club

Will the REAL churches please rise?




Because honestly... Many of us have had enough already,
myself included.

Reflections

I looked back this morning through my journals for the year. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's not so good. I guess it's all in the way you look at it. But I'm beginning to see a nice shift in my life for the better ~ mostly.

The only thing that I regret from the past year is letting go of God ~ as I knew and understood Him.

But in the hope of trying to move through my life without any regrets, I began to see this differently.

I couldn't find God with letting go of what I believed to be God.

Maybe that doesn't make a lick of sense whatsoever but to a person that understands the power of religion and the ability of illusions to deceive ~ that person will get it.

Putting it simply...

I had to destroy the house of cards to begin to build the house of stone.

This may be the slowest process and the biggest undertaking of my entire life but it may just be the one with the most gratifying results and the biggest reward.

Only time will tell.

Light at the end

Sometimes we wonder why things happen to us.

I've wondered just that for years now. The events that took place against our will and behind our backs at our old church have been a constant nagging in the back of my mind. But sometimes things just happen for our own good ~ even when it is devastating.

When I left that church I was empty and broken ~ mentally, physically, spiritually. I cried for God to fill the void in my soul almost everyday. I begged God to help me to find a new church family ~ one that would accept me and love me. The church has yet to come ~ and maybe never will. But the void, the hurt, the shame and the pain seems a distant memory.

Maybe I've finally found a way to forgive. I can't say that I've really forgiven any of them but it's all just easier now. Maybe the old saying that "it all gets better in time" is true. Or maybe, after all these years, I finally found a way to let go of the past and find my sense of self again.

No one has a right to tell you who you are. Never give another person/pastor/church that kind of power. You can think for yourself and make your own decisions in life. It's very hard after it's been stripped away but I'm living proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope for the New Year...

I know it's been a while but I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and may God show us His love, mercy and grace in the coming new year.

He offers us so much. Often we are the blind leading the blind. I've tried so hard to get out of that rat race and just focus on Him and His Truth. It's hard. So many voices pulling our attention in so many different directions. Who's right? Who's wrong? I seriously don't know ~ But I am confident that God can speak to me through all the other screaming voices and that He can break down the religious walls and reveal His true self to me.

That is my Hope for the New Year.