BoldGrace

Yesterday I saw an old friend. A man who was an elder in the church I attended for so many years. He is now an ordained minister. We spent many hours together over the years in church and church related functions. As we spoke yesterday we seemed to be on common terms for a while then as he detected some of what I now believe he commented that I believe in “universal salvation” and attempted to correct me that surely there “is a hell to shun”.

I sensed the feeling of rejection that often comes in such situations. It never gets easier it seems for me to handle such experiences.

Today, on the ABC news 20-20 site, I read the following words from Bishop Carlton Pearson….

“The people who created hell for me are people who used to love me and will call themselves followers of Christ. It wasn’t some secular, atheist, God-hating infidel that denounced me … my own brethren, with whom I sat, and ate, whose babies I dedicated."

I can relate to that. It sometimes seems that the broader I see the grace of God, the more my old “brothers” wish to point me to hell.

Isn’t there something terribly wrong with that?

Last Saturday I spoke at one of my best friend’s funeral.  He had committed suicide.  He was a Viet Nam vet and had never really gotten over his time during that war.  We had been friends since I was about 12 years old and had stayed in touch all through the years.

I will miss our long talks about life, religion, and memories we shared of once being young and foolish.  I was glad that I was able to share with him how incredible God’s love is for all of us regardless of our performance.  My friend struggled a great deal with some things that happened during that war and he always lit up when I would come to visit and talk about God’s unconditional love. 

His bible was always filled with small pieces of paper marking places that he had been studying.   He never failed to have a list of questions he wanted me to answer.  Unfortunately I was not able to ease his inward pain.  He suffered his entire adult life and I guess he finally decided he couldn’t suffer any more.  I am glad for him now, because his questions are finally answered and I believe with all my heart that God’s perfect love has healed him of all his wounds, both physically and mentally.

I felt honored to speak at his funeral.  He was my friend and God knows the love I felt for him.   It is during such times that I am more convinced then ever that love supercedes all else.    I don’t know what God has instore for us once we leave this body, but I do know we are in good hands and have nothing to fear.  

So, I say thank-you to God for giving me this friend who taught me so much. 

Nancy & I are so blessed to have our grandaughter Abby stay with us some this week.  As I tucked her in bed tonight and then went to my office to catch up on some blogging I started thinking how in the world would she ever be able to take in all the information that is available to us today.  When I was her age over 50 years ago the amount of information I had to deal with didn’t even compare to what kids today are bombarded with.

And then I remembered our supper last night when right before we started to eat she said: "Grandpa, we need to say a prayer first".  So, I asked her to lead it.  She asked God to bless us all, and then she included every pet we have as well as her’s at home, and even her cousin’s dog.  She talked about God helping us to be more loving and kind, and being good to those who don’t have as much.

What I saw in that little prayer was a beautiful heart of love and I knew that it was that heart that would get her though all the piles and piles of information that is overloading our lives.  I have 9 grandchildren and I have to admit there are times that I worry about what kind of a world they will live in, but no matter what comes there way it is LOVE that will get them through it.

Paul said that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  I am so grateful that my grown children are teaching my grandkids to stay in touch with the love that God has given to each of us. 

…..first I wish to say that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to my brother Kenneth this morning on the vestro.com site recently set up by George. Kenneth, you sound great my good friend. I haven’t had a lot of time to look for my mike and reply but know that I am glad to hear your voice. Thanks George for always looking for ways to draws us closer together.

In response to Cliff’s last post, it is so good that we know that God is our Father. It is great to no longer be affected by the unbelief of those who still dismiss the majority of God’s children as lost and without hope. They are blind to the goodness of a fabulously good God and Father.

The last few weeks have been a little difficult and I find myself relishing my time off to just relax and be with my wife. I finish up seven days of work tomorrow which including one 12 hour shift. I have one day off and then I go back out on afternoon shift Thursday for seven days. It’s really quite of interesting but the schedule is taking a little getting accustomed to at 60 years of age. So that contributes to why I haven’t been writing often.

Today my supervisor and I had a conversation about churches and some of his experiences. It was our second such discussion in the last few days. He suddenly said that something I said the last time we talked along these lines had stuck with him. It was the words…."IT IS FINISHED".

The reality of those words are coming alive to him…thank God. He told me how he had attended churches, often excited about going, only to find himself leaving feeling like less than a worm after hearing the preaching. There is something very wrong about causing God’s people, those He loves and died for, to feel like worms.

I am so glad that he is encouraged by my words. I hope he is feeling more like a son now than a worm. He deserves that….at least our Father thinks so.

My life is changing a great deal lately but some of it is for the good.

Love you guys. I’ll post when I can.

When you lay your head down on the pillow tonight do you really believe God, our Father loves you?  Jesus taught his disciples to pray once and he started the prayer with "Our Father".  I believe he did that because he wanted us at all times to understand we are all his children and what I pray for myself I pray for the whole world.

Right now as I type this there are appoximately 6,727,010,269 people living on this earth.  Because of what Christ did at the cross by breaking down all the walls of hostility I can confidently pray for each and every one of them knowing that our Father has demonstrated his perfect unconditional love that is based solely on what He did rather then what any of us has done or ever will do.

Did you know that in the next 24 hours that approximately 155,000 of us will lose our earthbound lives?  We also know from statistics that if you counted every single person that even hints at being a christian it would only amount to about 33 % of the population at the very most?

That means by the most liberal standards that approximately every 24 hours 100,000 people are HELL bound without any hope whatsoever according to what is taught by most of the christian world. 

Did you also know that in the next 24 hours that approximately 250,000 babies will be born?  Now out of that number it is fair to assume that about 167,000 will eventually die and go straight to HELL according to what is taught in the christian world.  Now I have always been pro-life, but if I believed in the christian teachings of today I think I would have to move to the pro-choice stand because at least when we take a life through abortion we are assuring the life we took to have a free ticket to heaven.

Now I hope my point is starting to come clear.  According to the christian teaching in most churches God Our Father is an absolute FAILURE.   Of course, I totally and completely REJECT that thinking.  OUR FATHER can be counted on to love each and everyone of us with a PERFECT love. 

When I lay my head down to sleep tonight I am absolutely confident that the 155,000 people who are destined to leave this earth in the next 24 hours will leave safely surrounded by the full and perfect glory of God.  I am confident that he will take all their life experiences and use them for good.  

Why don’t we trust that God can overcome any decision or bad choice that we have made on earth?  I’ll tell you why, because we have been taught that God can not be trusted.  We have been taught that we must take it upon ourselves to get right with God.  We have been taught that the sacrifice that Jesus made is only good if we sign up and stay faithful.  How could God ever trust something so important to us?  He couldn’t, and he didn’t.   Let me quote a favorite scripture of my good friend Steve W.

ISA 25 6 And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

You see, I believe God did all that when he sent Jesus to this earth.  On the cross Jesus said, "IT IS FINISHED", and when I lay my head down to sleep I am always reminded of those words knowing that God OUR FATHER is not a failure.  WE can trust him, WE should trust him, and it’s time the christian world quit insulting our God by teaching otherwise.

Go here www.vaestro.com/viewpost-554-976-1415 and here www.vaestro.com/viewpost-554-979-1419  to hear our brother Kenneth from Belfast. He was the first to leave a message on The Bold Grace Voice Message Board. It is the second message on both list.

Thanks Kenneth for getting us started. Now who is next?

Peace

Geo

Come over here www.vaestro.com/viewforum-554   and introduce yourself with audio. All you need is a microphone to post. Tell us about yourself and ask any questions you like.

Peace

Geo

The following was an e-mail I got from my daughter today and I must say she makes a very important point to all of us as we share our thoughts and beliefs.  The point is to always be aware of the fine line betweeen preaching and sharing.  When we preach we come across as trying to prove something, but when we share we are just telling the story of our own personal experiences with God.

Anyway, please read her e-mail to me and let me know how you feel about it………or just SHARE your feelings.

Hey Dad,

I am just having a moment of rambling and need your wisdom.

I am having one of those days where I am feeling overwhelmed. I guess what I mean to say is I am struggling with why everyone feels the need to have to point out their beliefs. It seems as if even those in the grace world feel they have something to prove. (I have been roaming the internet and checking out everyone’s sites.) Why do we constantly feel like we have to defend ourselves to society. I enjoy knowing that my relationship with God is personal. My hardest struggle is keeping it personal and not having to feel like I have to prove myself to anyone even God.  I believe in sharing…to a point. What I mean is when I share a life experience with someone I feel good, but once I start preaching to someone I feel like a hypocrit. 

We all experience life in our own way. That experience is what it is. Whether it is learned from teachings of religion, or by way of something else; it is what it is, and IT makes the world go round. In the Webster dictionary it defines a preacher as: Someone who offers moral advise, esp. at length and tediously. Who considers what to be moral?? It also defines the word judge as: One who can give an authoritative opinion. Isn’t that all the preacher is doing? These two things seem to go hand in hand. I don’t know I guess I am just tired of putting soo much emphasis on my spirituality along with others. Sometimes I wish I could live in a place where I am forced to see what a struggle really is. You know what I mean? I want to give more of my blessings to those who need them. I want to stop preaching. I want to stop judging and start listening. I want to give more of me. God blessed this earth with each and everyone of us. We were made in his image. When will I ever feel confident about who I am and what I believe in.

I strongly believe that this is my last life here on earth. (maybe one more…LOL).  I want to do more with my life. Whether it is be a better mother, wife,daughter or friend I just feel like I am holding something back and sometimes I think I am just holding back from being me.

Anyway, I guess I needed to vent to someone I know would understand. Thanks for listening Dad

Love you dearly,

Mindy

This is the longest that I have gone without posting. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that I have gone through some changes at work that have changed my schedule significantly. Up until a couple of weeks ago I worked as a plant engineer which was a 5 day, weekends off, straight day shift position, the ideal for most people but cuts in our companies plant engineering staffs have forced me to take an offer to become a production supervisor working rotating 7 day shifts. So, my schedule has changed and I am finding a need to physically rest more.

There is another form of resting also taking place with me. I have discovered the benefit of placing all of my trust in Christ only and thus resting in the work of Christ alone. So for the time being at least, I have had little inspiration to do anything else….just rest. It is really nice to have no sense of a need to perform anything, not even making blog posts. That may change but for now, I am enjoying both a time of rest from my new work and a sense of rest from many years of religious obligation that often left me with a constant need to be doing something in order to feel accepted by God and by other believers.

A real negative to my present work situation is that it appears it will keep me from attending the Grace Gathering in August.

May I mention my appreciation for my fellow blogging friends and brothers who are gracious enough to understand where I am and totally supportive of my situation, both at work and in life in general, including blogging or the lack of it. I just hope I get some opportunities in the near future to get together with you…around this crazy work schedule. Those times of fellowship only add to my restfulness.

Grace & peace.