Have you wandered off
Just a little bit
And felt like nothing is
Or ever was
Quite right?
Who are you to think
That in a flash
You could be right back on target?
You could turn – not so much away
From loveless, lifeless darkness
You could, right this very instant, turn
To the Light.
Now everything’s become
Unspeakably beautiful
Full of love and joy
And unending recognition
Of who it really is
That you are!
Dear Friend,
It has occurred to me that, in an effort to be helpful when I believed my assistance was sought, I may have inadvertently offended you – and that’s the last thing I would ever want to do.
I know you have been suffering from this ailment for a very long time and that you have asked a number of friends to pray for you. As a fellow AW-JP enthusiastic, I took the liberty of assuming that the bottom line was to eradicate and obliterate the ‘mountain’ by showing ‘it’ no mercy. I think anything less than 100% starvation gives the devil an inroad to sneak back in.
I am ‘guilty’ of doing the same thing that I was trying to get you to quit, namely, after asking God for healing (by asserting the spiritual fact that “by His stripes” we are already healed), we go right back and give voice to the devil. We talk about it (the sickness whose very existence we have just denied) with our wives, husbands, friends and anyone who’ll listen! We take medicine, massage, acupuncture, aroma, salves – for that thing that doesn’t deserve the right time of day.
When I have symptoms that vie for ALL my attention and I’m unable to function, I do the least I have to in order to free my mind to STRIVE TWICE AS HARD to get right with God, knowing that healing takes place when our minds are off the problem. If I spoke out of turn with you, or too harshly, or like a know-it-all, I do sincerely and humbly apologize: I only wanted to shake up the devil and send him packing.
Much love,
Robin
I still have so many unanswered questions! I never found out who let the dogs out… the way to get to Sesame Street… why Dora doesn’t just use Google Maps… why we don’t ever see the headline “Psychic Wins Lottery”… why women can’t put on mascara with their mouth closed… why “abbreviated” is such a long word… why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor yet dish-washing liquid is made with real lemons… why they sterilize the needle for lethal injections… and, why do you have to “put your two cents in” but it’s only a “penny for your thoughts” where’s that extra penny going to… can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane… why do The Alphabet Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star have the same tune… why did you just try to sing those two previous songs… and just what is Victoria’s secret? …and do you really think I am this witty ?? … I actually stole this from a friend, who stole it from her brother’s girlfriend’s uncle’s cousin.
WE HAVE BEEN PERFECT FOR A LOOOOONG TIME !!
Jeremiah 1:4-7 KJV
Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. [6] Then said I, Ah, Lord God ! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. [7] But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
THE REAL GOAL OF SALVATION WASN’T TO KEEP US FROM PERISHING . . . .
John 3:16 KJV
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
. . . . IT WAS TO GIVE US EVERLASTING LIFE !! (Hell and sin got in the way and had to be dealt with!)
THIS MAY BLOW YOUR MIND (ALTHOUGH I’M SURE YOU’VE READ IT MANY, MANY TIMES): JESUS DIDN’T EVEN MENTION HEAVEN *IN THE SCRIPTURE, John 17:3, QUOTED BELOW. HE’S TALKING ABOUT THE HERE AND NOW !! . A CLOSE, PERSONAL, INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT !! . IT SOLVES EVERYTHING !!
*John 17:3 KJV
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
If one knows nothing of Marxism, or the philosophy of Karl Marx, they at least know the famous quote stating that religion is “…the opium of the people.” Both theist, atheist, and agnostic alike, however, often wrongly understand this as meaning that Marx understood religion as something of a mind-numbing agent that could be used to dumb down, or control the masses. This is an infantile reading of Marx, however, and in no way reflects what he had in mind. Here is the quote in a fuller context:
“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
For Marx, opium, here, does not represent something dumbing the people down, or controlling them, but rather a pain killer. Religion, in his understanding, was man’s best and most beautiful attempt at liberating themselves from suffering. It is an opium, or a pain killer that helps them to deal with real suffering. Additionally, he calls religion “the heart of a heartless world.”
For Marx, religion was a delusion that helped humanity deal with their suffering, and his criticism of religion was aimed at helping us recognize the delusion, so that we could deal with the suffering, the oppression, itself. Unfortunately, the very religion his philosophy sought to extricate us from can, and did, in many ways, become its mirror image. Why? Because it, like all religions, promised utopia in response to certain actions on humanity’s part. Marx’s utopia was a societal one, as opposed to a heavenly one, but it was still the very same promise. It was one more failed pathway to Nirvana, alongside of millions that came before it.
The Gospel invites us into something entirely different from both religion, and philosophies that mirror religion. The Gospel does not call us to pursue a utopia, or a heaven, that is gained in response to actions of ours, but to realize that heaven, or utopia, is the actions themselves. The Kingdom of God does not sit on the other side of yonder cloud formation, awaiting our arrival, but on the other side of our loving our enemies, or showing hospitality to a stranger. The sigh of the oppressed, and the heart of the heartless that Marx saw in religion, is problematic, but only because it feels it must translate itself into religion, or some other ideology that promises it utopia. The heart itself is not enough. The Kingdom of God, however, *is* the heart that is seeking expression through religion. The expression is unnecessary in the Kingdom, for it is only the heart that is needed. The act of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, hosting the alien, etc., need not be done in the name of religion or ideology to gain significance, or earn one heaven. No, the act itself is heaven, and is therefore all that is needed.
In other words, the Gospel does not call us to funnel our hearts into a system promising us something in return, but calls us to pour our hearts out upon the world in love, knowing that there may be nothing given in return, but that that is precisely why the action is beautiful. The heaven promised by religion, and the utopia pursued by Marx, are, in the Gospel, found in the heart that religion is an expression of, and that Marx sought to liberate by criticizing religion.
Heaven is the heart that loves, and utopia is the soul that sighs for the enslaved.
~Jeff Turner
Start spreading the news I’m leaving today. I wanna be a part of it – New York, New York. These vagabond shoes are longing to stray and step around the heart of it: New York, New York. I wanna wake up in the city that never sleeps to find I’m king of the hill, top of the heap. My little town blues are melting away. I’ll make a brand new start of it in old New York. If I can make it there, I’d make it anywhere. It’s up to you, New York, New York!!
Just barely graduating high school, plus 7 years later, I took on the astronomical challenge of taking one, single college course just to see if I could pass. I PASSED!! Doubled my effort. Doubled again. Finally got Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. using the below encouraging words. ONE step at a time …. Lots of prayer … YOU CAN DO IT TOO !!
I wish I could remember when
I first discovered my toes.
What an amazing find!
They’re so wiggly and feel-y
And they seem to be
All mine.
When you’re walking down the street
and you see something not quite right;
Not an accurate manifestation
of the allness of God and his Love;
Perhaps an obese gentleman
or a crippled lady
or a sad and sickly child,
See them as Jesus sees them
every whit whole, healed and happy!
Then take those persons
who never cease coming to your mind,
Deserving or not – see them
Pure as the driven snow,
Sweet as a bouncing babe,
See them, see them, see them
As you would like to see
your own self be.
Y’all know I had my place painted, right?
And you know it was no easy matter?
That it would take some time to put everything back where it belonged?
Well, I finally got to the point of
Getting everything accounted for . .
And found, much to my distress
That my favorite electric guitar
Was nowhere to be seen.
So, so sad.
Was it the painter himself?
He had been so nice –
I practiced my Spanish with him.
So sad.
Or, did someone else in the building
Sneak in, when he wasn’t looking?
Omigoodness, I’d hate to accuse
The wrong guy.
I checked all the closets again
For the umpteenth time.
No Fender!
Trying to think Christianly:
This will be a blessing somehow.
Sure didn’t -f-e-e-l- like it!
Tried to see as Jesus sees.
Tried again a little harder.
Quit trying.
Then I knew …
God is here INSTEAD of this loss,
Humiliation and blame.
The Holy Spirit told me that all would be well.
“Look again (must be 11 times by now).”
Obediently, but not confidently,
I went to the same closet….
Felt around way, way in the back….
And guess what I found?