Happy Birthday to Me...Waiting Has Never Been One of My Stengths

I'm writing this Saturday Morning. Tomorrow is my Birthday, Happppy Birthday To Me, and I have not felt well for 4 days so far so I do not believe I will be writing too much.

I am so blessed this year I will be 46-years-old and I will have been at some point this year I don't remember the date 32 years in Christ. My greatest gift of course is reconciliation with Father and the freedom of no longer being a slave to the things that used to bind me.

Nevertheless, I'm also thankful for the gift of raising my Daughter and Son as a single father with full custody for the past 18 years, one of my greatest joys is watching them as young adults pursue their dreams through college and vocational training and knowing that neither of them made many of the choices I did growing up. I am often blown away by the maturity of the choices they make, not because I do not know they are mature, but because I know that they are who they are not, because I have been a great dad, but Father has been in our lives making up for all my imperfection.

I am very excited about what Father is doing in my life as he teaches me how to walk in the freedom of authentic relationship with Him and at the prospect of what he will do this year.

However yesterday I went to the Doctor, because as I briefly mentioned above I have not felt well for 4 days as of today. When he examined me he began asking if I drink or smoke. Addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, or other substances I somehow escaped when I was young though I experimented. Nevertheless I have always highly enjoyed an occasional beer my favorites being Guinness Stout, Guinness Draught, and Smithwicks all Irish beers something to do with the fact that I am Irish probably.

Well back to my doc's question I told him that I do not smoke, but tried once when I was kid, and well I buy a 12 pack or a couple six packs per month, but never drink more then 2 in the same day and most often only one. He then went on to explain that he is going to send me to the lab for tests for pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas. I then understood why he asked if I drink alcohol as I am familiar with the fact that one of the common causes of pancreatitis is alcoholism, because I know someone whose life is ruled by alcohol who had it and when they did I researched to discover what it is.

This morning when I checked my email there was an email saying the blood test results were in. So I attempted to log into my medical providers web site, but could not log into the results. So I called them to see if there was an alternative way to find out and the person I spoke with said she could look at them, but if the results were positive for anything they tested for only the Doctor can tell you. The next thing she said is the Doctor will have to give you the results however that will not be untill Monday. So as to the second half of the title of this blog entry alludes to I am now waiting to find out and waiting has never been one of my strengths.

1Peter 1:6-9 (New International Version) "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

James 1:2-4 (New International Version) "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Praise the Lord I am being perfected into a reflection of the image of my Father as I am being made into the likeness of the Son who was the image of His Father. Perhaps one day as people say of my son they will say of me "there is no mistaking who your Father is..."

Judgment Based on Appearances- Geeks Freaks and Other Social Outcasts

By now I would be surprised if anyone reading this blog has not heard of Susan Boyle who appeared on Britain's Got Talent. Her angelic voice has shocked the world. My question for all of us including me is should it have, should we be expecting less of people based on appearances, natural talent, education, or the number of their IQ.

If you have not seen Susan Boyle and heard her angelic voice you may see and hear her in the following the YouTube video by Clicking Here .

The little bit I know about Susan Boyle is what I've read or heard on television she is a 47-year-old unemployed woman, who has never been married, never had a boyfriend, and never been kissed, and as a child she was made fun of, because of disabilities and appearance and she lives in a small community in Scotland.

One of the things that disturbs me even about myself is we humans even those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, make judgment based on appearances; what we see with our natural eyes and what think we know from our own appraisals solely based on our preferences and opinions regarding physical appearance and what constitutes normal or exceptional behavior, thinking, talent, gifting and beauty.

More often than not on that basis alone we determine peoples value and who we seek relationship with or whom we follow.

Matter of fact we often, become so enamored by those we deem to be exceptional that we overlook hurtful or are blind to harmful words and actions toward others and toward even ourselves.

Too many times within the institutional "Christian" Church this has led to raising up men and woman with charismatic personalities and impressive gifts and talents into positions of great influence who have not matured in their relationship with God and others. As a result they eventually fall and bring many with them after finding out they have not been who we have assumed them to be.

In many ways we, we meaning those who follow these immature men and women create these narcissistic personalities by demonstrating favoritism based on traits that have nothing to do with the Fruit of the Spirit.

As a result rather then becoming humble servants they become demanding tyrants that rape and pillage the the Body of Christ and the world to build their own kingdoms and to satisfy lust for money and their inflated opinions of themselves.

When I heard Susan Boyle's angelic voice I was immediately brought to tears, because of my lack expectation for such a beautiful gift to come from what I deemed a less then perfect vessel solely based on my opinion of perfection and beauty.

Father forgive us for not recognizing and for marginalizing your gifts in some and celebrating and lifting up others based own outside appearance and our own preferences and opinions. Jesus you came to give sight to the blind please give me/us Spiritual vision that we will stop making judgments based on appearances!

Please Read the Following and Leave Your Thoughts and Opinions via the Comment Link...

Let me make this clear regardless whether or not I ever sell a single thing through ReligionFreeJesus.com / Religion and Institution Free Jesus I will not stop writing until Father directs me to. This is a labor of love that I hope is motivated by Father's heart and the Love of the Son for His bride the Church / Ecclesia and empowered by the Spirit.

I would like to ask for a couple opinions I am considering some changes, one is change to a new blogging platform, specifically WordPress. With that potential change I am also considering changing the feel and function from that of a blog more of a web site with instead of a separate amazon bookstore having a bookstore through Amazon Built right in and possibly even publishing some e-books of my own writings particularly my autobiography of my journey through Institutional Church to where I am now and what I am learning since.

This last part is the part I'd really appreciate your opinions on and that is changing from weekly blog posts to writing the same things, but as a weekly Opt-in subscription based free newsletter sent directly to peoples e-mail in boxes. Would those of you who read my blog still be interested reading the things I'm writing if I did this and do you believe you would subscribe.

The truth is I'm considering this for two reasons. I am looking for ways to increase my income, buy offering for sale books and other resources I have found beneficial to my relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that I believe will be beneficial to others. The e-books that I write will be available free of charge to those who cannot afford to pay for them or who simply ask for a free copy.

The books I offer in hard copy form or from other publishers will not free of charge unless I am able to have a special arrangement with the authors, publishers, or distributors to get them for free copies to give to those who cannot afford or unless Father provides financial resources to do so. I will be using Amazon as my bookstore platform at least in the beginning until I discover something I feel is a better alternative since I do not have the financial resources or space to purchase and store inventory.

The reason for switching to WordPress is simply that it is a much more powerful platform that can I can do more with. It allows for much better and easier search engine optimization which will hopefully allow me to reach larger audience. Plus I am venturing into other areas of legitimate and ethical Internet marketing and e-commerce for which the WordPress platform is in my opinion the best platform.

To leave your opinions and comments Click Here!

Christ In You Incarnational Living Re-Presenting Christ

This weeks entry will be short, because yesterday my 82 year old mother was sent to the emergency room for heart related chest pain during a doctors visit she had scheduled regarding something else.

It turns out that she has been experiencing this chest pain for about 3 months, but kept attributing it to heartburn. She truly is one of the most stubur... Oops I mean strong people I know. At 82 everyone mistakes her for being in her late 60's or early 70's. My mother is truly a remarkable woman. Please pray for her.

Update on my mother she was released before noon on Sunday so she was able enjoy celebrating Easter at home with us. Let's just say it was a extra special Easter for all of us. It turns out that about 3 months ago she had a mild heart attack and that there is a small amount of damage to her heart. At this point she get so escape any surgery as medications seem to be doing enough for her. However she must slow down a little, like that is going to happen, she's 100% Irish and therefore very stubur...Oops there I go again...I mean strong willed.

It is the day before Easter. Whenever I think of Easter and Christ's Resurrection for as long as I can remember it leads me to thinking about "incarnational" living. In thinking on living incarnationally this morning I find myself remembering the following words from Colossians 1:27 "..Christ in you the hope of Glory" and how those who have placed faith in Christ and become His disciples/apprentices through His indwelling life also become a re-presentation of Christ to all around us.

Lord help me/us to live mindful of this critical truth as we walk among our brothers, sisters, and neighbors. But Lord help us to not attempt to do this in our own strength and wisdom, but completely by and through relationship with you living in dependence upon the indwelling Spirit within us. Lord teach us to live like you as you lived loved by your Father and then lived love.

Living In Authentic Relationship With God is Like Developing Spiritual Sea Legs

After years of being part of Institutional Churches with their written and unwritten and spoken and unspoken rules and codes of conduct meant to manage behavior and instill a sense of obligation to a religious institutional machine sometimes learning to live in freedom of authentic relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is so new and different that it is like the difference between walking on land and walking on water or what Sailors call "getting your sea legs."

I have spent some time on a medium sized commercial fishing boat my father owned as a hobby when I was child and also on charter fishing boats which are vessels people pay to be taken onto the ocean or a bay to fish for various salt water species my favorite being Ling Cod.

I know a little of what it is like to need to get sea legs until you do it is difficult to walk and sometimes stand until your legs become acclimated to walking on something that is constantly being moved by water that is in perpetual in motion in every direction seemingly at once.

I have also piloted boats in that setting and you are continuously correcting your direction to get to where you want to be, which is very much the same as learning to live life according to Spirit, because our flesh continuously tries to take over pulling in different directions.

When our flesh is not screaming for indulgence of our appetites it is trying to entice into pride by living according to some set of rituals and rules that we can adhere to with our own strength and wisdom. This is normal as we learn the value of saying no to the flesh and of living by simple relationship with God through dependence upon the leading and instruction of the Holy Spirit and not a set of rules and rituals.

Just because our spiritual house is built upon upon a rock does not mean that walking in the Spirit is the same as walking on land. When we live according to a set rituals, rules and obligations we also often become deceived into believing we have life with God figured out as we begin falsely believing if we do a, b, c, and d that is relationship with God.

A friend of mine I will call Frank describing this in his own relationship with God this week.

"Frank wrote now that I have left the system of religious obligation every time I spend time with God I feel like what I have believed about relationship with him before now is heretical."

My reply to him was the following: "Frank you are now on the narrow road. The road of religion is the wide road that most find and choose to travel. The narrow road of simple relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the one that few find and fewer chose to travel. You have found it and have begun walking on it. You are just learning what it means to walk in authentic relationship with God and his church without the false props of activity, ritual, and religious obligation. You are doing well. Rest in Christ's completed work."

I experience this and I suspect many possibly even all who have spent time genuinely trying to walk with God while part of what most Christians have known as Church have and or do experience this. Which once again I feel the need to repeat is a vehicle of religious obligation fueled by fear and shame.

The reason we experience this is we have tried to walk with God through rituals, systems, programs, and rules. That is opposite of walking in a genuine relationship that is fueled by love and therefore our relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has been limited until now as real relationship requires freedom from obligation, fear and shame.

As a result even our understanding of the instruction we have received has been limited and often even misunderstood, because we have tried to understand it through our intellect instead of through relationship. Therefore as we begin authentic relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and with the true church/ecclesia outside of false institutionalized structures our understand often changes altogether or begins to expend and we begin seeing just how vast God is and relationship with Him becomes new and fresh everyday.