God has edited our books giving us a happy ending (or at least the option of a happy alternate timeline)

I just finished my book, hurray! The short synopsis of the book is that we have choices some of which determine what type of lives we will live. Will we be frozen in our own fear or will we let the love in our hearts be the driving force in our lives.

One of the pivotal moments in the book has the main character in a place outside of time and between parallel universes. Each person that has ever lived is represented as a book and some books are unwritten because they have had their story (life) stolen from them.

Recently, while praying, I realized that God has edited each one of our books (lives) because He loves us and wants our story to have a happy ending. His love is perfect and sacrificial; There is no fear. We all get to choose the edited version and live rich lives with purpose and filled with opportunities to love and be beloved in return.

Leaders, Where is Your Discernment?!

This is brilliant!

Revolutionary Faith

I wasn’t going to write about Donald Trump. I wasn’t going to feed the narcissistic machine. I assumed he wouldn’t get this far. I assumed the bluster would blow over after a while–that people would realize who he is and let him fade into obscurity.

When he said Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her…wherever,” I thought surely now people will see that this is a man without respect.

When he mocked a respected POW from the Vietnam War, I thought surely now people will see that this is a man without honor.

When he belittled his opponent by threatening to expose his wife’s mental illness, I said surely now people will see that this is a man without mercy.

When he shamelessly ridiculed a disabled person, I said surely now people will realize this is a man without empathy.

When he called his own supporters idiots and insulted members of his own…

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5 Things stop doing if you want to win anyone over to Jesus

Most Christians are a bit hesitant to evangelize and for good reason, those Christians that do seem to bungle it for the others leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths. I love talking about Jesus with people but I do so in a natural sort of way. This seems to work for me but I have noticed five things that really make it awkward to talk about Jesus.

1) Hating the sin and loving the sinner.
There are GLBT folks that I love. I support GLBT civil rights, have for decades. Nobody buys the hate the sin love the sinner meme. It seems impossible to get past the hate thing to have a chance with the love thing. Most gay folk believe Christians hate them and I can understand why they have these opinions. Love the person. Note the period at the end of the previous sentence. Hint: people can tell when you love them.
2) Using tracts. Please. They’re obnoxious and I seriously doubt anyone owes their salvation to them. I saw them from the other side of the equation yesterday when my friend, Shayma, who is Muslim, was the recepient of an anti-islamic variety of the tract (I have seen anti everything but Protestant Christian tracts) I was offended for her.

Please do not put down one of these tracts with a tip. Ever. And don’t even think of putting it down as a tip. If you do, you are a cheap little shit.

 

3) Stop supporting Donald Trump! Donald Trump is a disgrace and does not hold Christian values. He has no filter and says what is on his mind. What is on his mind is offensive to minorities, women, religious minorities, Latino and Latinas, and disabled folk. Do you really think heaven is going to be full of primarily rich, white, straight, cis men?

 

4) Stop equating Christianity with conservative politics…..just stop watching Faux News.

Must I elaborate?

 

5) Start behaving like that brown middle-eastern socialist Jew who was the son of a teenage mom that was married to a fellow that wasn’t his dad.

If you think I’m talking about Bernie Sanders, think harder.

Homophobia and the Patriarchy

A friend of mine, Sara, just posted an article about how former NFL player, Wade Davis, has noted that homophobia is a function of patriarchal thinking.

“Even though I was fighting to end homophobia, I realized the root of homophobia was sexism.”

We need more Wade Davis’s fighting for equality!

But why are his words true?

Because, if you are tied into Patriarchal group-think, there is nothing worse a man can do than become more feminine (feminine defined in their construct, that is.)

Think of the difference between the hatred toward gay men and the arousal many men experience at the thought of lesbians.

Think of the creepy men using gender-neutral bathrooms to get up in a high rage and then try to “protect” us women by keeping an eye on our bathroom activities. Really? Really? How many of us are afraid of trans-gendered or transitioning people and how many of us really don’t want creepy straight men protecting us against folk that have no record of harming us.

I welcome Wade Davis’s advocacy and I hope it strengthens bridges between the LGBT and feminist communities. Not because the enemy of my enemy is my friend but because the friend of my friend has the potential to make a strong ally.

Revelation Song

We did one of those ten hour round trip drives to Pittsburgh and back in order to pick up Joseph and his belongings because he will be spending the summer here in Downingtown or out in California with his siblings.

We got to meet his girlfriend who is nice and who I would like to get to know better

We had lunch with Jonathan at the Double-wide Grill in the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

We made really good time in spite of the many bands of heavy showers we passed through on the way home.

Pat and I were listening to the Christian music station on Sirius-XM and talking. Because I was very aware of my blessings particularly how fortunate I was to be married to Pat and how fortunate I was to have Joseph coming home, I really wanted to worship to one of my favorite worship songs namely The Revelation Song. I told Pat at that time that I believe the song would be played in the next five or so songs. (the song isn’t on the top song list but I do hear it every once in awhile.)

As we entered the Allegheny Tunnel along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the sound from the speakers cut and we stopped getting a signal from the satellite up in space.

As we emerged from the tunnel, guess what song started playing?

I kid you not, this happened. It was wonderful and reminded me of a few things I need help remembering.

No matter how difficult it seems, God will have His way in spite of details.

I don’t need to remind God how big my troubles are rather I need to remind my troubles how big God is.

This is not a formula for success, there is no formula or set of rules, rather, it is a relational thang.

If God gave me that song to sing to Him, He WILL be there to help me with whatever else life brings.

 

He will take care of you, too.

I started doing some light research about US government mind control programs and….

At the risk of the title being longer than the text, I freaking almost fell over faint when I saw who was trying to silence the whistle-blower way back in 1974, folks….

This was government funded mind control experimentation called MKUltra. Here is the wiki result when MKUltra is googled, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra

Here is a time line of major events related to this:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/preview/documents.html

Cheney and Rumsfeld. Seriously, these men are evil personified.

Google MKUltra and see for yourself.

Read this before you make knee-jerk comments about Syrian refugees

She, was exhausted from their travels across the sandy middle eastern dessert terrain. Exhausted but had a little farther to travel.  She belonged to a particularly troublesome ethnic group which didn’t play well with their neighbors. They were frequent objects of violent outbursts and were, with some reason, accused of genocide as well.

This particular instace with this particular family, they were fleeing the unwanted attention of their dispotic dictator who was bloodthirsty, to say the least, willing, if the stories are correct, to kill his own son if he (the son, that is,) was a perceived threat to his iron-fisted rule.

As I said before in my conceptual family, the dictator had taken notice of the couple’s oldest son and the things that had been said because, as you well know people do not know how to keep their mouths shut. So she crossed the boarder of her native soil and took on refugee status.

 

It isn’t hard to understand why she and her husband might want to put a little distance between them and those that would do them harm.

 

Would you give them shelter?

You would find nothing if you did a background check.

 

nothing.

 

Can you prove a negative?

 

Would you let more brown people in as refugees?

 

Or do you believe the unfounded boogieman stories you watch on Fox News?

 

Should they be forced to go back where they cane from?

 

Be honest.

 

Did you say yes, no, or a lazy maybe?

 

 

Dumbass, the brown people were Jesus, Mary, and Saint Joseph.

You threw baby Jesus under your bigoted bus.

And you let Herod kill all the babies in that two year window (picked the wrong team.)

No Jesus.

No Cross.

No Easter.

No salvation.

Glad the Egyptians (Nope, weren’t Muslim aka people of the book, they were heathen idol-worshipping old school pre-Islamic Egyptians) and *they* had the heart to let the hunted family live there until evil dictator (aka Herod) died and the family could safely return home.

Think about that and remember to not let your own fears drive you to hasty and coldhearted decisions but let love govern your heart. The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear.

I dare you to live like you believe it.

Would you want your state to grant this family refugee status?

 

 

Allow me to provide, for your thoughtful consideration, the case of a particular middle-eastern family and allow me to ask you if your state should afford this family refugee status.

The ethnic group to which these folks belong has a history of being trouble-makers and are constantly at odds with their neighbors. They have also been associated with violence to the degree that some would consider some of the actions genocide.

Because there had been so much unrest, the Senate passed a law that a census be taken and some surveillance conducted on suspicious characters.

The ruler of the small middle eastern country was admittedly cruel and barbaric. He held onto power with an iron fist and was paranoid about others conspiring against him. He wasn’t beyond killing  children  if he felt threatened by them. His enemies had a way of disappearing.

The ruler was getting ready to wipe out the firstborn son of our family but the parents were secretly warned of their impending doom and escaped capture in the nick of time.

I ask you, dear readers of my blog, do you want your state to give this family refugee status?

Self-aware robots, have we reached this milestone?

 

I want to live my life like this……

Yesterday, I was at the Marple (main) campus of DCCC taking care of some business and, as I was leaving, I ran into a lovely woman that I have never met before.

We took turns holding the door for one another and saying our polite thank you’s and than I asked her what classes she taught.

She said she was actually a student.

She was an African American woman at least my age and she carried a scholarly air as well as a tote bag that made her look professorly.

She asked me why I thought she taught and I told her the truth.

I asked her what was her major and she said theater and the performing arts.

Because, she said, that was what her heart wanted to do and, because she had already retired, she didn’t need to go to school to find a decent job.

Which is fantastic.

We got to chat for about five minutes and, guess what? She was in a funk and I made her day.

God used me to lift this sweet woman out of some sort of funk and that was the real reason I was at main campus but didn’t know it until then.

We gave one another a good hug and wishes for a wonderful rest of the day.

Her name is Georgia and I forget her last name but it is poetic and I hope I get to run into her again but I really hope to live my life like that all the time.