BoldGrace

Redemption is free to mankind and it has been bestowed on ALL Mankind for all of time and eternity. Redemption is of the spirit that part of us that will return to the God of all who created us all. Redemption is given and is of benefit to all who accept it and to all who reject it. Redemption requires nothing of us. Neither a yea or a nay. And it is my belief that this Redemption came through the man Jesus The Christ.

Salvation on the other hand is NOT A FREE GIFT. Salvation is not of the spirit as Redemption is. Salvation is of the soul i.e. the mind, the will and the emotions that are in the here and now. Salvation can be permanent (lifetime) or it can be temporary and lost on a moment by moment basis.

So what is the price and cost of Salvation to the soul i.e. the mind, the will and the emotions?
The cost is the faith you have in your personal faith. The price is the belief you have in your belief. The only way Salvation of the soul i.e. the mind, the will and the emotions can be permanent is if you give up believing and trusting in your faith and belief in God! You must come to the end of your personal faith and belief in God in order to find real faith and that is not of yourself but of Christ. The requirement for you to believe and have faith ended at The Cross. And as well it should have because as Jesus said if you faith was only as big as a mustard seed you could tell a mountain to throw itself into the ocean and it would obey. The church teaches that Jesus wanted us to have our own faith. The truth is He was teaching us that we had NO FAITH AND NEVER WOULD!!! He at the Cross ENDED the requirement to believe and included ALL in Redemption. And when we know without a doubt that our Redemption is sealed and that all of mankind’s Redemption is sealed then we can come to the point of saying with confidence, " I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN MY BELIEF AND I NO LONGER HAVE FAITH"! And we will be saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD NEWS

Selah
Geo

When we allow others to be their true self the world is the Beneficiary.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Peace
Geo

I used to read this and I was convinced that these were the knees of those who lived their lives choosing not to believe that God could really love us as much as he does. I prided myself on not being one of those who would need to bow down before God at some later date because I was convinced that I already believed in his awesome grace and understood how deep his love was. And then a funny thing happened, I was reading a book called “Furious Pursuit” by Tim King & Frank Martin. In the last part of the book they list some sacred vows that God (the bridegroom) wants us to hear from his heart to ours. They are very simple and at first I didn’t put much into their profound meaning to my heart.

Here they are:

I have always been there for you, and I always will be.

I will walk with you forever—-just the two of us.

I will always understand you.

I will always be kind to you.

You will always be my own personal concern.

I love you. I always have, and I always will.

Now here is the strange thing. After mulling these over in my mind I found myself asking “Is God that loving?” “Can he really accept me with all my flaws?” “Don’t I have to do something to at least show him I love him?” And then I found myself going back to read these vows over and over again, and I began to weep, not because of how great his love is, but because I realized that his love is so great that as long as I am a human in the flesh I will never really be able to comprehend his love for me. Then it struck me that until we lose this body of clay that is so subject to weakness of all kinds we will never truly be able to appreciate everything God really is to us.

Yes, I do believe in God’s Love for all mankind, and I want others to believe it too, but I also know a time is coming for all of us when we will shed this body made from dust and we will see God with clarity for the first time, and when that happens we will all bow our knees and give the truest form of praise that we have ever given. We will be witnessing the brightness of his glory and we will be doing it without all our questions, and doubts, and divisions, and weaknesses of our flesh.

And at least for me I think I really know now what Paul meant when he said: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

I have worked so hard NOT to judge my brother, and I will continue to do that, but now I also realize NO human being can really fathom how unbelievable God’s love is for us. Yes, that means me too. And guess what? It feels great to know that as much peace as I feel right now, it’s even going to be greater, grander, and beyond my wildest imaginations.

The challenge we each have while we are still in the flesh is to trust his love. His love is trustworthy, and even when we struggle with that trust He is greater then our heart and the day will come when He will take away all our doubts. I am going to read those simple vows more often, and when my time comes to lay down this tired old body of flesh, closing my eyes for the last time, I will be bowing my knees for the first time in perfect praise of my loving God.

As I live says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. Rom 14:11

"The Purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best which is within us."

Marianne Williamson

The best that is within us is up to us to acknowledge. It is always there. It has always been there and it will always be there whether we tap into it or not. To be reborn is to have acknowledged the perfection within. The perfection that God sees. The perfection that God made. The perfection that Jesus died on the cross for.

How do we find it again? BE KIND. See the beauty in everyone you meet. Say hello to a stranger. Enjoy life. Take comfort in the ones you love. Have no fear. Don’t fear getting old. Don’t fear your faith and your spirituality. Don’t fear speaking up for yourself. FIND out what makes you YOU! Parachute out of a plane. Travel someplace you want to see. Take a day off with your children. Learn how to play the guitar. Learn to love what you cannot change and change whenever you can!

Life is taken so seriously. People live everyday walking in circles rather than taking a different path, a path that they would never take because they are afraid of what is around the corner or who might be watching. I truly believe that organized religion has done this to us. How can we find ourselves when we are taught that we aren’t good enough for God? WE ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

Find your inner child. Reconnect with that child and allow your heart to filter out the mess that organized religion plugged it up with. You will find that God has been in there all along and peace will fill your soul.

I have been reading Everyday Grace by Marianne Williamson. What a great book!! I bought it for my Dad a couple of years ago and I never read it. I got it out today on my way into Richmond for Caitlin’s funeral. I needed to feel strong for Bridget and her family and right now this book is giving me a great connection to my Father and to love.

In the book Everyday Grace, Marianne Williamson talks about us being mystical and how we need to look at each other as one. We are a part of each other. Once we let go of the fear and acknowledge that God loves us all equally the peace becomes stronger and that peace helps us understand better the cruelty in others. They are living in fear.

It is my understanding that some people actually believe that "bad things" are happening to people like me and my family because we don’t go to Church. LOL…I don’t look at my Father’s death as a bad thing. I look at it as a natural thing. He lived a full, happy, beautiful, amazing life and he left all of that for us. I am the luckiest girl in the world!

Death is a part of life. It is a part of what we will experience. Once I let go of the fear the layers began to shed and I found my true self. I realized that God made me in his image which is of his perfection, life became simple…it became brighter…it became clear.

I will continue to be the bright light that God made me as he did all of us. I will live in love and I will live in peace because Fear has left the building!

We will be having a celebration of Life ceremony Saturday, April 25th, 2009 (4:00p.m.-??) It will be held at the American Legion located at 109 North 6th Street, Richmond, Indiana 47374. We will laugh, sing, cry and tell amazing stories about Cliff! We will have pictures and videos so we can share some of his incredible moments with all of you.

Clifford L. Hazelbaker II, 57, of Richmond was born January 13, 1952 and was reborn on April 16, 2009. Cliff was the son of Clifford and Barbara (Goodwin) Hazelbaker. Cliff graduated from Centerville High School in 1970. He was married to Nancy McBride Hazelbaker on March 6, 1970. They recently celebrated their 39th Wedding Anniversary. Cliff enjoyed spending time with his incredible family. Their family motto is “Love Never Fails!” He also enjoyed sharing his love of God on www.boldgrace.com. Here is an excerpt from that site… “Clouds don’t seem to care where they’re going. They are content to follow the directions of the spirit of the air, enjoying the journey as they make their way to their purpose. Though they are unaware of their designation or their purpose as they travel along, they find themselves eventually called upon to join forces and deliver liquid life to the earth. Often exhausted, they whither and die, having given all of themselves in doing their work. But, as those clouds die, others are reborn from their seed to carry on the purpose.” Cliff is survived by his wife Nancy ; Mother, Barbara; Children: Tammy (Bob) Thompson of Centerville, Clifford (Bridget) Hazelbaker III of Richmond, Mindy (Charlie) Hill of New Carlisle, Ohio, Amy (Todd) Witter of Bath, Indiana; He is also survived by 9 grandchildren: Josh, Jacob, Paige, Samantha, Clifford IV, Abby, Emma, Lilly and Phoebe. Brothers: Andy (Teresa) and Doug (Cindy) Hazelbaker.

Dad was reborn at 6:40 this morning with all of his family around him singing you raise me up. It was the most beautiful thing we have all ever witnessed. We will see you again Daddy.

I strongly recommend the book "REINCARNATION FOR THE CHRISTIAN" by Quincy Howe Jr.

I don’t recommend it because I want or even care if others believe in reincarnation or NOT.  I recommend it because it offers people of honest thought the chance to exercise their free thinking ability.

You may say "Hey Cliff, I already do that".  But do you really or have you just bought into to what the Christian experts tell you is the correct history of Christianity.

According to Howe and many others there was quite the discussion going in the first five centuries about the possibility of reincarnation. 

Origen of Alexandria was born around 184 AD and died in 253, probably as the direct result of his imprisonment & torture for his faith.  He was a dedicated teacher,a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, and a strong believer in reincarnation.

You see like many since the early times of the church anyone who dared to have an original thought was persecuted and often put to death unless they fell in line with the accepted wisdom of the day.

Did you also know that during the first five centuries the predominant thought was universal salvation for all until the powers that be decided they needed a HELL to keep people in line.  

There have been many thoughtful and honest christians of thought down through the centuries that  believed in reincarnation but did not dare share their hearts out of fear.

What I like about this book is that Howe doesn’t try to prove anything.  He just shares some of the thoughts of great men of our past that believed in reincarnation and why.

The day of closed minds ended with the internet.  Now, anyone who really wants to investigate the questions of their heart can do so without feeling the fear that comes with doubting the status quo. 

Allow me to quote a few words from the back cover of this interesting book:

Can one believe in the concept of reincarnation and remain a Christian.  The answer according to Dr Howe (a christian scholar) is: ABSOLUTELY!

To back up his claim, Dr. Howe cites chapter and verse from the bible that clearly indicates an understanding and acceptance of the rebirth theory.

Dr. Quincy Howe, Jr. is a graduate of Harvard, Columbia and Princeton Universities.  He received his Ph.D. while at Princeton. 

All I want people who read this post to do is to realize that we have all been lied to over and over through the centuries by those who would force us to believe or be lost.  God gave all of us wonderful minds and hearts to help us find our way, and I don’t think He ever intended for a only a few to make all the decisions on matters of FAITH.

I’m sure many Christians out there will say that they now have the liberty to really speak their mind in church, and I really hope that is becoming more true, but I still think we have a long way to go. 

I do have great hope for the future of open minded Christians because with the age of the internet there will be NO going back to the dark ages where only a few decide what we should believe.

If you don’t believe in reincarnation now, don’t worry about it, YOU WILL BELIEVE IN IT IN THE NEXT LIFE………ha ha

……and Life is being good to me.

Little Will, our newest grandson had his open heart surgery in early November and is doing wonderful. The doctors say he is the most successful case they have ever seen in reversing the "blue baby" conditions.

Christy, our daughter in Dallas, TX is pregnant with our sixth grandchild, a little girl who will be named Ella. We are all very excited.

Had a wonderful time sharing the boldgrace of God with a coworker the other day. He is changed forever.

I am on vacation now. I’m actually taking my last week of last years vacation which I never had an opportunity to take until now. I have a couple of really good buddies in nearby Pennsylvania that I think I’ll contact to try to get together for breakfast this coming Saturday.

Love all my friends here. Keep sharing God’s wonderful and bold grace.

Steve