Tag Archives: #jesus

Spirituality

Thrown Away

There’s a television show I have heard about but never watched. It’s called “Hoarders.” The show is about people who never throw anything away. Their homes must look like a train wreck happened in them.

We throw money away. We throw trash out. But there are people who have been thrown away by their families and friends. Recently I read about a child whose parents rejected him because he told them he was gay. This is a tragedy of epic proportions. Another child out in the world who has to find a way to survive on his own. There are many stories of similar situations. Too many.

Many inmates I have spent time with have been shamed by their families. Not only are they in prison, they have no one pulling for them. They feel alone and lost.

I believe in restoration and redemption. All of us have made mistakes. I lead the field in doing colossally stupid things during my life. But I’m not trapped in the prison of my past. Neither are you.

Jesus dined with prostitutes and tax collectors. He physically embraced lepers. The hopeless were shown kindness, grace and forgiveness. No one was turned away.

Be kind to others. People are carrying around stresses and strains we don’t know about. Your simple kindness might be their last, best hope…

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Spirituality, Uncategorized

Unnecessary Roughness

We live in a world full of beauty and wonder. There are way more than seven wonders of the world, and I remain in awe of them.

The world has some darkness, too. People tearing others down, reminding them of every mistake they have ever made. Those people are the ones you should keep as far away from you as possible. This might include some family members.

People will spend time beating themselves up, too. Mistakes from the past can paralyze people from taking chances. They want more from life, but are afraid of failure. You only fail when you refuse to try.

The failures we experienced in life are there to teach us. No one gets everything right every time. Elon Musk blew up a lot of rockets to learn what doesn’t work. Now the Falcon 9 Booster gets payloads into space and then lands vertically on the launch pad. Pretty cool, huh?

Be fearless when you pursue your true calling in this life. God didn’t put you here to fail. He never promised it was going to be easy. But you will succeed if you refuse to give up.

Find your purpose and pursue it with everything you have in you. Setbacks will happen. Expect them. But whatever you do, don’t quit…

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Spirituality

Humor Me

As you probably know, I love to laugh and make others laugh. Humor is a healthy emotion. Yet, I see some people who have lost their sense of humor.

Politicians are easy to make fun of. Elizabeth Warren claimed that she was an American Indian. She made this ridiculous claim for decades until she was challenged to take a DNA test. She’s not an Indian.

Bernie Sanders used to be in charge of the Senate Budget Committee. The man has never set a budget in his life. And he has no budget constraints because he thinks everything should be free! That math only works in Washington.

Some people think I’m being unfair when I joke about their favorite politician. It’s just a joke, nothing more. The offended people are free to make fun of me, and I give them plenty of material!

There’s always something to laugh about. Keep the humor clean, not dark-hearted. Laughter is really good for us.

God laughs, too. I’m certain that He laughs at me daily. But that’s okay. I’m making the Creator of the Universe smile!

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Spirituality

No Judgment Zone

From my observation, there are a lot of judgmental people in society. I realize my opening statement sounds like I’m making a judgment. I’m not. It’s simply an observation.

The genesis of gossip is judgment. You see, the root cause of judgment is insecurity. Gossiping about others is an arrogant attempt to make ourselves look better. Comparison gives the weak-minded a brief sense of superiority, but their insecurity remains.

There is only one true judge. God alone knows all the facts. We aren’t given the privilege to have full insight into other people.

Some of the Pharisees during Jesus’s time were disgusted that Jesus would hang out with prostitutes and tax collectors. But Jesus looked straight through people and peered into their hearts. He saw that the people needed restoration and redemption, while some of the Pharisees needed a cleansing on the inside. And he told them so.

My encouragement to you is to try to let go of judging others. See them for who they are, not just what you see on the outside. And leave the judging to God. He will handle it…

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Spirituality

Peace Through Strength

Ronald Reagan popularized the phrase “peace through strength” during the Cold War. He was responsible for revitalizing our military with the belief that the best deterrent was to be the strongest nation militarily. It worked.

Critics believe that this approach provokes our enemies. They believe everyone plays nice in the sandbox. If we leave them alone they will leave us alone. It’s a nice thought but it’s a naive belief. Bad actors want power and domination. It’s up to us good guys to stop them. We can and they know we can.

Jesus showed peace through strength, too. When the opportunistic merchants took over the Temple, selling doves, cattle and sheep for Passover, Jesus made a whip from three cords and drove the animals from the Temple, his Father’s House.

Jesus was a badass who was filled with righteous anger that day. It must have been an impressive experience because the story is told in all four of the Gospels.

We need to show strength when we witness people being taken advantage of. There are a handful of bullies out there who pick on others. Remember that the bully is the most scared person around. They are scared so they want you to be scared, too.

Peace through strength is effective in deterring evil. It works in geopolitics just like it worked in the Temple. Be strong…

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Spirituality, Uncategorized

Hanging Out With Jesus

Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to hang around with Jesus? Reading about him in Scripture gives us an idea, yet I wonder what he was like.

I’m sure Jesus had remarkable presence, and I bet he had a wonderful sense of humor. Jesus couldn’t have been serious all the time because if he was, no one would want to be around him for very long. Little children flocked to him. Kids don’t approach people who make them feel unsafe. Children have great instincts.

And Jesus was a rebel, a real badass. He didn’t mince words when calling out hypocrisy, even among the religious scholars. Doing something like this in Jesus’ time could get you kicked out of the synagogue.

One day we will all meet Jesus. Until then, let’s just try to be like him…

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Spirituality

Daily Prayer

Here is my daily prayer. True story: it popped into my mind when I was sitting in church, checking out girls! When the thought grabbed me, I immediately wrote it down. If you like it, feel free to use it as your own.

“Use me. Work through me. Through my writings and through my words. Through my actions and through my deeds. Let me be a light to others in this dark world.”

Our world is dark. Be the one who brings light…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Eyesight

As I have gotten older, I have noticed my eyesight is not as sharp as it once was. But there are certain things I see clearly.

Consider the story of the man who was blind since birth. Jesus healed the man and restored his eyesight. In those days, when something bad happened like blindness, the people attributed it to either the sin of the man or his parents. Jesus declared it to be neither. The man was born blind so that in that moment, God would be glorified.

Some of the Pharisees were outraged because Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath. They missed it completely! Only God could restore the man’s sight, but they were blind to this because they were only looking at the law. Jesus didn’t come to bring us more religion. He came to show us the character of God. As you can see, there’s a lot of levels to this beautiful story.

I encourage you to open your eyes. See the unseen. When you see a wrong, don’t walk away. Make it right.

The unseen is not just the spiritual. It’s the people around us, too…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Redirected

Sometimes life throws us curveballs. We think we know the direction of our lives, and everything seems to be going smoothly. Then the shit hits the fan. Normal life is disrupted by an unexpected divorce, the loss of a job, or the worst thing possible happens, the loss of a child. Life as we knew it has forever been changed.

When dark periods occur, and they will, you have got to find your inner strength. Sometimes this is strength you didn’t know you had in you. The resilience you built through difficult situations in your past will serve you well now. You will get through whatever you are going through, even if it’s one baby step at a time. When you’re going through hell, don’t stop and build a house there. Keep going…

Life will get better. You will find a way to live with a pain that never goes away, it merely subsides. You will realize that God didn’t abandon you. He was in the mess with you.

And those curveballs I mentioned before. You will get good at hitting them, too…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Spirits

We know that God is Spirit. Are you aware that there are evil spirits all around us? Alcohol is called spirits. I believe this is because it weakens us. People do things they wouldn’t normally do while drinking.

There is a spiritual battle going on in the unseen world. Just because we can’t see it doesn’t make it less real. An impulse you get that might harm others or yourself originates in the darkness. God cannot cause us to sin. His nature is perfect. Evil causes us to sin and suffer.

Let’s face it, sin is fun. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be tempted to do it. Sinful behavior is only good in the short term. Righteous behavior allows us to be free of worry and guilt. We face the choice of good versus evil every day.

I encourage you to read and absorb God’s Word. Make it part of you. In this world we cannot avoid sin. Yet, God gives us a way to fight through it. Guaranteed…

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