BoldGrace

At the end of the day what is most important to me?  That is a question we all must ponder from time to time.  Sometimes we ask it on our own and sometimes life forces us to answer it.  Maybe it doesn’t matter how or when we ask it but I have a feeling that we all ask the same question in various forms. 

You might be curious to know how I have answered it?  Let me say first that the answer can not come from others.  That’s the mistake most christians make.  They depend on their church or their pastor for guidance in this area far too much and it will always let them down.  I will also say that the answer can not come from me.  I have come to realize how very limited I am in understanding what is most important to me. 

Maybe for the first time in my life I am beginning to realize that it doesn’t even matter what I think is important.  I am beginning to see each day that I am allowed to live on this earth as having a significance that is beyond my ability to grasp at this point.  I am becoming more and more confident that the plan for each of our sparks of lfe have very little to do with what we think is important. 

Does that mean that I should quit thinking and just let life be?  The reality is I coudn’t do that if I tried.  I am what I am and I will be what I will be.  I am the product of the potter.  I am being molded into something that is beyond my wildest imaginations and all I can do at this point is live in this glorious wonder of what is next.  

Sometimes I know my family worries about me, but why?  God doesn’t worry about me because he knows me.  He knows how he has molded me over these last 55 years and he knows exactly what my next moves will be.  It is an amazing thing to stop being God and just be a little child.  That’s how I feel.  I am a little child and without any need to figure out what is important. 

One of my favoite quotes is:  "NOTHING REAL CAN BE THREATENED, NOTHING UNREAL EXISTS, AND THEREIN LIES THE PEACE OF GOD".

The best advice I can give to anyone is to simply trust the POTTER, BECAUSE WE ARE THE CLAY.  He will have his way with us either way, but life can be so much sweeter when we understand our role.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and until we give up our thoughts we will never see His. 

To Friends of Bold Grace: Try it and give me a call. If you like the system let me know and I will send you an invitation if I have any left when you call. Peace Geo

I’m not sure I really consider myself a christian. I’m not even real sure what that means. But, I’m pretty sure that "real" christians wouldn’t consider me a christian.

But, I do find myself drawn to the Jew’s story of a Messiah who would come to redeem the world, once lost, to it’s creator. I see a message of extreme love, and I am drawn to the author of that love. I go where I am called, and I am inexplicably pulled into that revelation. If the story of the Cross of Christ is true, then it has made a difference in the life of every human being, especially if they understand what happened. If it is not true, then we are all doomed to deal with our own fears and doubts.

I don’t think traditional/modern christianity understands the cross at all, and instead trust their doctrines, structures, people, and rituals. They have lost sight of the cross completely (except for the lip-service they give it). They dance all around it, but never embrace it for what it is… a revelation of God’s complete, full, pure, and overwhelming Love!

I don’t begin to understand some of the pain we must endure in this life.  Lately, I have had my share of it and pain can be quite life changing.  One of the changes for me has been being faced literally with the most important choice of my life;  To choose light or to choose darkness.  In the last few weeks I have faced that choice as many times as there are minutes in a day.  I can tell you that often I chose darkness.  I don’t know what darkness is but that word seems to descibe it best.  Darkness leaves you feeling defeated, drained of joy, and empty inside.  The funny thing about it is that the more you go into it the more you want it.  It’s almost like a drug.  Darkness always has a friend it brings along and the friend is called self pity.  Oh poor me, how could this aweful thing happen to me?

Now the good news of the last two weeks is that the opportunity to choose LIGHT was always there.   The LIGHT spoke to me in e-mails, phone calls, people who love me, and especially my children.  When I chose the LIGHT everything around me became brighter.  The birds sang sweeter, the grass looked greener, and the spark of LOVE flamed into a roaring fire.

It doesn’t matter how dark you think things are; the LIGHT is brighter.  Choosing it can sometimes go against everything you feel because the darkness harkens, but we must all remember that the light is much, much, sweeter to live in.  I don’t supose I will ever totally escape all the wiles of the darkness and maybe we should never even expect to do so, but one thing I am sure of is that weather I choose darkness or light, love will still hold me in its power and never let me go. 

I want to thank all of you who have offered me your light during this difficult time.  Some of you have known how dark it got and yet you never waivered in being the friends I needed you to be.  I will get up tomorrow and once again choose light because it’s the only choice to make if you want to hear the birds sing. 

Wait a minute, I think I just heard the sound of a song bird…………..got to go, I don’t want to miss that.

This is a comment I left on JP Manzi’s blog, recycled here for your convenience…

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So true, JP… you don’t need salvation. But, someday you will. You will need salvation from the hell that creeps into our lives through the events that surround us. You will find yourself seemingly all alone, even in the midst of a crowd. You will find yourself thirsty, as you stand in a mighty stream.

There is a God. Maybe not the God that religion pushes on the masses, but a life-source of amazing energy and organization that holds this electro-illusion we call the “universe” together.

If the Jews’ Messianic message is true, then God has revealed himself as love, despite the eons of misconception his creation had held about him. In one mighty act, he proclaimed “I love you”… or more so, “I am in love with you”! That is the message supreme. It’s not what you believe, so give up trying. Just realize that life is all about what God believes… and He believes in you!

He is the source of life, and the center of Life. We are all connected to Him, and through Him, all connected to each other. We are all kin, children of the same Father. He is the origin of Life and He is our seed.

You will never be alone, except in your mind. It is impossible. But our minds are weighed down by lifetimes of cumbersome baggage that pull us here and there, and clouds our thinking about “who we are”. We can so easily be lead to believe that “our baggage” is who we are.

Only by centering our minds on God… the safe God… the loving God… the perfect God… can we begin to shed the baggage that tries to claim us for itself, and re-establish our identity as “one with the Universe (God)”!

The baggage world is full of evil and pain, but God’s world is perfect. Sadly, so many people are more comfortable with their baggage because the “church” (term used loosely) has convinced us that God is distant, unapproachable… even angry at us! They make it easier to choose baggage over God.

Salvation is of the mind, and it cannot come until we understand the nature of God. If God is angry and exclusive, we will always prefer to hide from Him. We build walls of baggage so we don’t have to confront that unpredictable, scarey God. Our minds stay afraid and doubtful, and we remain in our baggage hell. Sad…

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For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that I preach is not man’s gospel.
For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Paul)

I was sitting on the back porch this morning smoking a cigarette thinking about how perfect God’s creation is.  Some folks struggle with that idea because they are so stuck in a mindset that is based on "getting good".  The reality for each of us is found in knowing we are his perfect creation and that can not be threatened by anything in this world. You may ask, "Why then is there so much chaos in this world?"  Well, for me the answer is simple.  God allowed us to experience the illusion of imperfection in order that we might fully realize our actual perfection.  Think about the only warning he gave to the first human beings.

Gen 2:15-17 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

From the time I was a young man all I have ever seen out of religion is a constant diet of Good & Evil fruit.  Christians especially have been taught to accuse and excuse.  They accuse others and excuse themselves.  Our whole society is plagued with this type of thinking that all stems from the diet of Good & Evil.  The amazing thing is that when you give up that diet and begin eating of the tree of life a peace comes because reality starts to come into focus.  You see yourself as God actually made you; PERFECT, and this allows you to see others the same way.  All of a sudden your heart is filled with the fruit of a perfect spirit and what is left is the following.

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

I am certain that eventually God will show every human that has ever taken the journey the reality of who they really are, but until that time my only goal is to continue seeing, feeling, and experiencing the perfect LOVE of God. 

I love this!

Because by works of Law not one of all flesh will be justified before Him, for through Law is full knowledge of sin. (Psa. 143:2) 

But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ toward all and upon all those believing; for there is no difference, for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, as a demonstration of His righteousness through the passing over of the sins that had taken place before, in the forbearance of God, for a demonstration of His righteousness in the present time, for His being just and justifying the one that is of the faith of Jesus.

From Paul’s letter to the Romans - Chapter 3, verses 20 through 26
The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
bold and italics mine

On September 22 my wife experienced a psychotic break and ended up in the hospital for a week until they could find the right medication to help her.  We now know that she has probably been bi-polar all of her life and yet despite having to deal with lots of childhood darkness including being molested, she has led one of the most productive lives that I have ever witnessed.

I am in awe of my wife as testament to the power of love. She is an unbelievable wife, mother, grandmother, & friend. She would be the first to tell you that her strength comes from her belief in a perfect God who loves us all unconditionally. Even in her darkest hour she understood that love would never fail her. If you would have told me on September 21^st that my love for her would be increased to a level beyond my understanding I would have said it couldn’t be so, but the reality is exactly that.

I now wake up each new morning with anticipation for what the day will bring me. I realize full well that it might bring great pain, but what I am absolutely convinced of is the pain will always turn in to healing love.

I hope and pray that every person reading this can experience what Nancy and I have experienced. Love is the greatest power in the universe and it will never fail any of us. That’s why we can not judge any person for anything. Only God knows our unique stories and he has the power of love to heal us ALL.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

 My daughter Mindy just sent us this e-mail and I just had to share it with the world.  The power of this BOLDGRACE is beyond words but my little Mindy has a way of speaking about love that comes close to expressing it.  I am so proud of my children.  They wrapped me and their mother up in the most amazing love this past week while my wife & I experienced our darkest hour and they stood firm in the message of grace.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well, it is about 9:30 at night and you & Mom have come home. Wow, I am happy.

I feel like time is slowing down, which is a good thing. Time is slow enough now for me to understand each moment and take it all in. I am on a natural high that doesn’t seem to be letting up. I don’t want it to let up. What I have learned from the most recent journey that we all took together is that the quality of the moment is what matters. “Mother Earth” wrapped us all up and gently guided us through this journey. We made it! We did it! We didn’t even question it. We embraced it. We learned to love and with each journey we go through we will continue to love and learn.

I didn’t think I could love my family any more then I already do, but I have. I love you both soo much and I know you know this. I will never let this connection go away. I am growing everyday and now that you both are free from religion I feel like my soul just said, AAHH!! I feel like I am ok now. You told me to follow my heart, but until you were free from religion I believe I was still a prisoner because I couldn’t do it alone. I always questioned myself and I think that made me angry and I am not angry anymore. I am not an outcast. I wasn’t trying to be difficult or disagree to just be a rebel and you know that. My heart was telling me something wasn’t right, but to know that we were all feeling the same way makes me want to sing!!

What you guys did for this family this past week was so powerful and I am going to make sure that for the rest of our lives you know that. I learned more about love this past week and it is a treasure that I hold near and dear to my heart. I literally watched you both grow as  humans and I have never seen anything like it in my life. I have never seen two people more connected.

Thank you both. I love you more then you can ever imagine.

Mindy