Tag: troubles

It’s Time To Come Back

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It’s Time To Come Back

Truth be told I’ve felt like I’ve been gone for a long time. I feel like I’ve been trapped in a solitary cell for months. I have felt disconnected for months from everyone. The voices are heard everyday, and even responses flow from between my lips, but I dare say my hearts not been in it. I’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with me, but alas, months later and I still don’t know. Despite writing for months, and having a third of a notebook full of future blog posts, I’ve not put fingers to the keyboard to write very much. One major issue is the homework I’ve had, and when I’m not doing that or volunteering at church, or volunteering with the EChaps, I just want to sit down and do nothing. I suppose that’s not surprising but the truth is, wading in the stagnant water I feel I’ve become old and no longer relevant. I’ve gotten into buying stuff on a fairly regular basis. The excitement and the endorphins when I get to open something new, and oogle at it for a while, but the high wares off quickly, and I’m back on Amazon searching for something new I just gotta have. Truth is, I’m masking a lot of what’s going on deep down with stuff in my life. The more I try to squeeze my way into a group the more I feel alone. The more I try to reach out and make new friends, I feel alone. I have not been in scripture as much these days without my everyday blog post. It could be that I was with Jesus so often and so long every day the short while each day isn’t as much as I was used too, and I long for it. If I’m spewing more truth from my fingertips and my tiny little brain, I’d say I am extraordinarily lonely. I don’t really do well in large crowds, but the one on one I long for just isn’t there. The guys from my old Job are not around much anymore. The social group I used to spend time with seems to be largely dissolved and has left me back where I started so many years ago, on the couch, with my phone and a computer. I tried to get into a group at church but nothing’s filled out. I started spending time with the youth and thought the adults there would be a good group to get to know, and at the same time get to know the kids. While part of that has and is currently happening, getting to be apart of the regular adult group has left much to be desired. I think I’m liked and respected, but that’s not the same as being accepted as a friend. 

Recently I received an open invitation from my best friend to go to lunch after church on Sunday’s, but somehow I feel like I’m intruding. I feel like I’m an outside trying to squeeze my way into a family unit that’s been a family for over a decade. I don’t think it’s far from the truth. So all this said, I have no idea what to do with myself. I have no idea where to go from here, and I long for Rg to come here and start our life together. I feel like my life’s in this long overdue holding pattern. I remember when I was in Iraq in a C-130 flying over Baghdad, when there was a storm on the ground we’d have to circle for a while for the storm to move on. Life has been that way for a while for me, flying in circles not gaining any ground in my life, just waiting above it all for the storm to pass. Well, I am sad to announce, I’m still in a holding pattern. 

Yesterday something strange happened to me. I was at Walmart with my mother (which is no where near strange), but she was approached by a women who claimed to know her from about 3-4 years ago. She claimed mom prayed with her at Church when she was in need. Listening to the women’s story about what’s been going on, and her struggles as of late. At the end of the discussion I offered (being the chaplain) to pray for her and her situation. When we got home Mom asked me if I felt weird praying in the middle of Walmart openly like that. I told her had it been a few years prior it would have been very weird for me, but these days it doesn’t feel weird at all. I supposed when I take a minute to think about it, I guess that’s growth. With all my Bible lessons complete through church, my classes in college that required scriptural uses, and with such a little bit of time working on my blog, I feel like I haven’t been moving forward or growing in my spiritual walk. I was hopping for classes to continue as I hope for Ordination, but life gets in the way, and now, I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that either. I wonder what I’m being tested on. I have been asking God to show me what I’m supposed to do, and the more I wonder, the more I feel the lesson itself is in patience. As things with Rg have been put on hold due to the tragic loss of her father, and a busy season (as if there were non busy seasons) at church, I have found myself twiddling my thumbs. The one thing that’s been getting me excited is VBS (Vacation Bible School) at church, and the fact I have 30 minutes to preach in July. These days, I’ll take what I can get. A couple weeks ago I was preaching (having a discussion) about Jesus and love, and life, and life over abortion, and I felt the Holy Spirit on me, even though I was frustrated to be in the situation I was in. I have no idea if my words held or meant anything, but I pray somewhere along the line those who heard me look at life a little differently. I know God is putting me where I need to be when I need to be there, but I have been wondering what I have to do to grow up. What do I have to do to be doing something meaningful in my life? I don’t want to feel like I am wasting my time, but in some ways I feel that’s what I’m doing. I know I need to finish school, but when I’m not doing that, I feel drawn to be making more of a difference. Even when I wasn’t getting feedback on my blog posts, I felt somehow I was making a difference in the peoples lives who read them. I guess, what I’m getting at in this long drawn out life update is, no matter what you’re going through, troubles, heartache, joy, happiness, unexpected pregnancy, loss in the family, or whatever the case may be, follow God and He will never leave you astray. Jesus loves you and is always walking with you. No matter if you’re in the hills, the valleys, the sunshine or the darkness, Jesus is always there. Am I still worthy of God’s love? ALWAYS! The question is, can I remind myself that I am still worthy, and even when I feel far away, I am still worthy of God’s love. 

I’m Thankful For

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I’m Thankful For

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)18 “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” No matter what situation I find myself, I am slowly starting to understand, and realize the nature of God’s blessings is not the absence of trouble, it’s the presence of grace and mercy during troubled times. I have live through many horrible experiences, but in all of them I have come to see a blessing buried deep within the pain. Sometimes, more often then not, it takes time, study, focus, and patience to slowly and meticulously uncover the truth hidden, buried under the sand. Much like unearthing an ancient tomb, or a set of fossils, time and serenity are needed in order to reveal the secrets. I have fought many long years against an angry kid who felt he got a raw deal. I have fought the very nature of grace because anger was easier to suppress instead of facing the natural emotion, and seeing God’s grace buried deep within. For many years I blamed everyone and everything to include myself for the tragedies that befell my life, and yet, when the sun came up I felt no better for it. I have buried friends, buried loved ones and I have mourned the loss of not one but two failed marriages, all in which I blamed myself. God it seems was laying the foundation and I was just to angry, too hurt, too wounded to see what was really happening. God is beyond patient, and we can’t comprehend the nature of God, if we could He wouldn’t be God. But what we can comprehend with our little brains, is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to us as a Child, in which we are about to celebrate his birth, and grew to be a man. In his own life he suffered loss, he suffered betrayal, he suffered persecution, he suffered bullies, and ultimately he suffered the ultimate sacrifice, and here we are upset over what that family member said, or what that other driver who cut us off on the highway. We watch the sun come up, and the weight of yesterday still weighs down upon us, and we hold in the past like a desperate cleave to loosing apart of ones own body. How sad we’ve become that we cannot look at our lives, and examine the pain and truly acknowledge where it comes from. God has revealed to me in study, in time, in patience, but must importantly in love that these things, all of the pain and trials, that in the fire is when everything is burned away that isn’t who we are meant to be. This can only happen if you are following Christ, and allowing him to mold, shape, and strengthen you. How can we be these things if we cannot appreciate and be thankful for the single greatest gift known in the entire universe, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the last Alter God would choose to use. The Cross, a symbol of the trinity, altered to include the final piece, the blood sacrifice where Jesus Christ’s blood covered the whole of the earth, washing away our eternal sins, and giving us the one, and only true sense of joy, it’s in the hope of eternal salvation with our Heavenly Father. How thankful are we to have a loving and giving father? How thankful are we to live this life and go through our trials so that we may become more like Christ, walk more like Christ, live more like Christ, and love more like Christ? 

Trials are not there to break you, but to build you up, to show you mercy and grace and love, and they are there to remove parts of you that are not needed. Trials are there to forge you, to prepare you for the fight that comes to each and every one of us every day on the spiritual plane. The troubles of the past are not meant to be carried with you every day feeding the hopeless, the sorrow of your souls, but instead to show you God, to have you turn to God with your sorrows, and trust in the love to heal your broken heart. I am a stronger man today not because of my own will, but because God has given me the strength to survive years of trauma and sadness. I am a stronger man today because I realize the need for those things in my life, and what better way to train for the spiritual war, then to be put through battles every day? I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Psalm 23:1-4 The Lord is my shepherd “I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Do not hold onto the past, be thankful for it, and take only what you can carry. Do not burden yourself with the sorrows for they are gone, instead use them to bring Glory to God. Find a way to use what you have experienced, grow from what you have seen, and draw closer to your Father in Heaven. I have seen and done so much in my life, and while I didn’t enjoy it, I am thankful for it. The Lord prepares you for the mission, prepares you for the commission, but it’s up to you to take what you have experienced, look at it as training, be thankful God has prepared you, and do not let it go to waist. Even when the troubles were of your own doing, we still have the ability to learn, to grow, and decide not to make those mistakes again. Failure is the greatest of teachers, so be thankful for all your trials, all your failures, and thankful for the many, many blessings. You could never add up that the Lord God Almighty has deemed fit to bestow upon each and every one of you. We are created from nothing, a miracle of life, more then a billion combinations of possible outcomes to become a unique individual with gifts and talents that no one on earth would share the same combinations. This allows you to grow, to love or hate, to give or steal, to be with God or not. Be thankful for the choice, and be thankful for the choice God has made to forgive you of your sins, and as we know, God is the God of many, many chances, so be thankful today, and every day for the love we receive in Christ’s Holy Name. 

Sometimes You Have To Lose

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Sometimes You Have To Lose

We shake our fists to Heaven when something we perceive as bad happens. We don’t always see the blessings till well after the tragedy. This happens more often then we think in life. When I spend time thinking about the worst things to happen to me in my life, I often wonder if there was any other way. (Spoilers Avengers Infinity War)

Dr. Strange tells Tony Stark “There was no other way.” This happens when Strange calls to Thano’s and spares Tony’s life. Sometimes victory is in the loss. It’s hard to face those hardships with hopeful hearts but in all things have faith in God’s plan for love not despair. This can be seen and summed up in one scripture verse Romans 8:28 (NKJV) “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Loosing isn’t everything, for it’s in loss we are truly able to rise and see what we’re made of.

I’m reminded of a line from Star Wars Last Jedi. Yoda tells Luke that failure is the greatest teacher. This couldn’t be truer. In my own life I have lost, and though it’s not always right away, usually some lesson can be taken away from it. Sometimes the lesson to learn is to change directions in your life. Several months ago after a long period of time out of work I was able to finally get back into the security field. I found a job that although had it’s issues, was well suited for me and my current physical restrictions. I wasn’t at the job more then 3 weeks before out of the blue I was called by Human Recourses telling me that I would be out of work by the end of the day. There was no other position that suited my physical requirements, so without any positions I would not remain with the company. 7 years with the company, employee of the year, exemplary record, and it would all come to an end in the blink of an eye. I can remember sitting in my car at the end of my shift. The only thought that kept rushing to mind was prayer, so I sat there and I prayed to God. “God, I understand what you’re telling me. I see that this chapter in my life is over. Please show me my new path.”

We often think of loss or failure as a bad thing. We fail to understand that, those times are often when we learn the most about who we are. We face the dragons and we are either victorious, or we are beaten down. No matter where we are in our lives, these times will be the most defining events of our life. Obviously we won’t always handle every failure with ease and grace, but even in those moments it’s an amazing opportunity to do the one things that’s more important then any other, TURN TO JESUS CHRIST! When we are struggling, and we are low, Jesus is the first place we need to turn. We 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18 14 “Now we [b]exhort you, brethren, warn those who are [c]unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Turning to Christ and rejoices in everything. Every success, and every loss we have are in a place where we can turn to God to help us make our way through. If we are not following Christ it’s possible that our hardships are presented to us so we turn to Christ when perhaps we hadn’t in the past.

Thinking back about that moment when Dr. Strange tells Stark, “there was no other way.” Reminds me that sometimes the only way to alter our course is for something bad to happen. We can be stubborn, and I ask how often we refuse to change. If we are to look at life as a long highway, sometimes to change our path, God needs to place some construction signs and force a detour to change our path. We want to focus on the why me, but we don’t really want to face the why. They are very different questions, and very different reasons. When we ask ‘why me’ we are looking at self, we are looking at the me aspect instead of asking the purpose of what we should be learning in those situations. If we are not listening to the subtle clues God places in our path, God will eventually throw a major construction site on the path to force change. This is not likely to be a pleasant event because truthfully we don’t change much when things are going great. When it comes to following the path, it’s important to focus on God the whole way. We know that there is a purpose, or at least something good we take from every experience. Instead of saying we have a problem, instead say we have an opportunity.

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Trust in God, and trust in the path you find yourself. In the darkness it might be you that’s the light for someone else to see. It might be you in need of help, and it’s someone else’s opportunity to feel useful by helping you. Life is about perspective and changing your perspective will often change the way you feel about a situation.

The Woodshed

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The Woodshed

Have you ever felt the world just took you behind the woodshed for the worst beating of your life? Have you felt like you’ve been the farthest down you could be and everywhere you looked was destruction and chaos? Let me tell you there’s hope.

I’m no stranger to the prison of my own despair. I’ve been bonded to heartbreak and I never felt like I would be whole again. If you really want to be free of the pain of old, the cracks in your armor that let the feelings of negativity, doubt, and helplessness seep through. I’ve felt broken down and beaten, and I have been broken more then a time or two. Jesus Christ is the one who can make all broken things new. Jesus Christ can rebuild you and use your pain for the purposes of good and grace. If you fall to your knees and let go of yourself, let yourself submit to the Lord, you will know all your sins are forgiven, and you will be reborn. You may have questions, and fear, but in the waters that come from Jesus Christ you will be washed clean of your past, and you will become a soldier for the Lord. Your pain will be your weapon for God. Your scars will be your testimony and you will be able to help save souls. Once you submit to the Lord you will never be the same. When you place all your hope in Christ, you will know and understand there’s a better way.

All My Hope, By: Crowder

 I’m no stranger to the prison

I’ve worn shackles and chains

But I’ve been freed and forgiven

And I’m not going back, I’ll never be the same

That’s why I sing

 All my hope is in Jesus

Thank God my yesterday’s gone

All my sins are forgiven

I’ve been washed by the blood

 There’s a kind of thing that just breaks a man

Break him down to his knees

God, I’ve been broken more than a time or two

Yes, Lord then He picked me up and showed me

What it means to be a man

 Colossians 3:8-10 “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self[d] with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Colossians 3:12-17 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” We must learn to do these things regardless of the pain we hold. When we hold onto that pain it’s like a cancer for our souls. We must learn to learn from our pain, and let it go. Let it past as dust in the wind and focus on how we can use that for the betterment of our lives.

God will use the broken things in your life and for the Glory you will follow because you are asked to. Jesus so loved those who were broken, and he would use them to spread the gospel. You only need to submit to the Lord and you will be made new. You want hope look to those that God used in the Bible. Look at all those who were broken, and hurting, and suffering, and in all things, God was able to use them because of that pain to reach others. I myself am a broken man. I’ve been targeted time and time again, yet here I stand, speaking for, and preaching for God. This life is but a speck of dust in the greatness of time. But in that speck of time you are so loved by God that when the dust blows, you will have the chance to be remade new in forever.

If you’re lost and you are weary from the beatings of life, have hope and faith that it was not all for nothing.

Lift your head weary sinner, By: crowder

 Lift your head weary sinner, the river’s just ahead
Down the path of forgiveness, salvation’s waiting there
You built a mighty fortress 10, 000 burdens high
Love is here to lift you up, here to lift you high

If you’re lost and wandering
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory open wide

All who’ve strayed and walked away, unspeakable things you’ve done
Fix your eyes on the mountain, let the past be dead and gone
Come all saints and sinners, you can’t outrun God
Whatever you’ve done can’t overcome the power of the blood

 When we mess up we expect the punishment to be equal to the mistake. We are sinners and when we sin we expect a measure of blowback. When we walk this life be sure to own up to your mistakes. I have often taken the blame for things I didn’t do. I have placed blame upon myself when things go wrong even if I didn’t do anything to cause it. For me it was easier to explain why something happened if I just placed myself on the chopping block. This isn’t healthy or needed. Let God be the one to judge. You may want to find answers and sometimes they may never come. If you’re going down to the woodshed be sure you deserve it.

God’s love for us is the only thing that truly matters. Whatever we do should be to glorify our Abba. Take your beatings and own up to your culpability, but don’t take on more then you should. The weight of the world isn’t for you to hold. Be kind to one another. Love one another and forgive one another. Bare one another’s burdens and trust in the Lord. In every situation God is working and we must learn to pray and have faith in not just the big things, but the small as well. The Devil will test you, the Devil will try to draw you away from Christ and steal your salvation by making you question it. The Devil wants you to fail, and sometimes the Devil will destroy everything you have to make you fall from the grace that’s been bestowed onto you. The grace from Jesus Christ was a gift for humanity and no one can take it from you, unless you give it to them. The Devil may take your worldly possessions from you, your career, your family, your friends, your home, but no matter what the Devil cannot take your salvation. How much of a beating can you take? The Devil will try every means of torture to break you. If you believe that Jesus is always with you, then you can withstand the torture from the Devil and never give in. When the beatings are over you will have your scars to prove it, but you are still wanted by our one and only heavenly father. Jesus healed the blind man, rose Lazarus from the dead, helped the lame walk, and overcame death Himself. So by the power of his Blood don’t loose hope, don’t loose sight, and don’t let the woodshed be where you loose your faith. Because our God Lives and is in everything, we will one day rise to paradise.

 

 

 

Evil Shinnanigans

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Evil Shinnanigans

The days come without fail, still no closer to the apocalypse but despite the spinning of our world, the life we live continues on. It’s been no secret the Devils been working overtime this last year to break me, to drag me down to the ground, and it seems more likely he’s trying to put me 6 feet under. While I’m sure He would love nothing more then to take me off the board permanently, I’m afraid to say the rumor of my demise was greatly exaggerated. While this year has been a challenge, I’d say very little difference in my year and the life of Job.

 

It seems that the Devil is up to his old tricks yet again, knocking at my door trying to trick me into opening it, blindly, but that’s not how I do things. You see, in the fight against good and evil the fight doesn’t end till the day we draw our last breath. The day may come when we loose our strength, when we loose our faith in mankind, but today is the day we continue to stand and fight, uphold our beliefs in the Light of the Lord, and continue to walk in the darkness of this world, with our flashlight in hand. Believing in Christ and allowing the light of the world to shine through us. Having Christ working through us is like having a military grade Tac-Light verses that cheap mini mag-light they sell at Walmart.

 

The Devil is like a B-Villian in a superhero show. One who’s just really a useless entity, one that tries and tries to win the battle, but knows deep down, He’ll never win. We may get caught in the wake of the war but only as collateral damage. When we have our foundation set in the Lord, built upon the Rock of Christ.

 

Continue to have faith, and never give up hope. The war is long, but it takes time to build courage, it takes time to learn, to strategize. No matter the pain we feel in the moment of our blows, the losses we will have, the hurt of our broken hearts even when the world itself crumbles to dust, we can always rebuild, we can always overcome. The Devil and His Evil Shinnanigans cannot keep a good Christian down. We are never alone in our fight. We must just look at our neighbors in joint faith and love. Stronger together.

The Cage

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The Cage

You lied to me and then you left. My heart was cracked and broken, and all this time it feels like it’s still held captive behind a cage. Unable to be free, unable to heal, the barbed wire tears it apart with each attempt to escape the torture. For how long will you have the power over my heart? For how long will you break my heart again and again?

The day has to come when the power breaks. Nothing can last forever. Once upon a time I thought you were my angel sent to me by God, the reward for a life of hardship. Once upon a time I thought you were my sign that life would forever be a blessing and I foolishly believed that love, the love we had would be the forever kind. I believed with all my heart that no matter what came our way I wouldn’t have to worry. But I underestimated the devils cry. I didn’t see the attack before it was too late, and then, you were gone.

I didn’t fight in time. The Trojan horse got in, and I watched it come. I took the horse for a horse not a trap. I rose no defense, I sounded no alarm, and when the night came the true nature of the horse was revealed and by then the fight was over.

My love was all I had to give. I gave the world I could, but that love wasn’t strong enough. Without that love I questioned everything in my life. I fell into a caged despair. I gave my everything, but like some soldier going toe to toe with Hercules I was swatted away like a fly, not chance at all. I stood no chance against the giant and I fell easily.

There’s nowhere to run, there’s no place to go, I can only surrender what’s left within me to the alter of the one above. I beg and plead to put the pieces back together. I beg and plead to make me whole. The one above is powerful and through the grace of His love and peace, the pieces can be made whole again. God above will mend the heart, but the scars will remain. As Christ rose from the dead for the defeat of eternal death, the scars remained, proof of the past, so thus we must keep our scars.

I question my past and my present yet no answers come. I never thought the day would come when the world would crack in two, but on the day it did I cried to the heavens I was sorry for any mistakes I made, I was sorry for my part in the tragedy. The Lord above forgives the repenting heart. The Lord above feels what we feel, sees what we see, and when we break He breaks.

With my still broken heart, the good Lord heals, but the mending of a broken heart takes time. We feel so deeply sometimes and it takes time to mend, to fix the broken code in the programming. When you feel like you’re crashing make sure you reach towards the Lord. When my day came, when I crashed, I hit Cnt-Alt-Del, and watched as the lights went out.

“At first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinkin’ I could never live without you by my side, but then I spent so many nights how you did me wrong, I grew strong, and I learned how to get along.” (I Will Survive)

I will survive. One day my prison will crumble and I will yet again have freedom. When that day comes it will be a sigh of relief. Remember that the true freedom is the freedom over sin, the blood that was paid for, for our sin by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While we are told we will face our own trials, we will have to take up our own cross, we too our promised our battled and our own scars. The scars will always be there as a reminder of where we came, and what we’ve survived. Embrace the scars because no matter how bad it was, you survived and now have a story to tell.

One day I will tell my story, and while it will have its ups, it’ll have its downs, it’ll have it’s laughs, and it’ll have it’s tears, but it will always have God at the center. The day will come when the morning comes and the chains will burn away and the pain won’t be able to keep you bound anymore. “All I know is I’m not home yet, this is not where I belong. Take this world and give me Jesus, this is not where I belong.” (Building 429)

My heart shattered that day, the world shook and went dark, the blood was spilt, the tears flooded the ground, but the hand of Jesus was there reaching down towards me and lifted me up. Never stop fighting the fight, never stop healing, and never stop moving forward. The power of the Lord can heal any wound and we need that healing touch.

Lord you made me feel so shiny and new, you picked me up, dusted me off and stood me up. While I may be within my own cage, while I am still watching from behind these chains, I know that one day they will fall away. Faith, it’s what we have, it’s what I have. One day the Son will return and when the day comes, I will be ready to return home.

 

 

The J Path

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The J Path

 Traveling down the wooded trail, notice the sun coming through the trees. The chirping of the birds and crickets, the leaves that blow gently in the wind can be heard as it fills the senses. The beauty of what can be seen all around, the colors of green, and brown, some yellows, and even oranges light up the eyes. The smell of the woods, a hint of water, a hint of dandelion, leaves, and other scents that we may or may not know.

Where are we going? What are we doing on this trail? What’s the goal, the point? How does the trail seem? Is it rocky, is it full of tree roots, what does the canopy look like? From my path I can only see a little blue in the sky. The canopy is think and full. The choice of left or right, high or low, the choice is simple. Even if the path of the most resistance is the J path that’s what I follow. For every day the path may become harder to traverse. The path may seem at first to be scary, and impassible, but the truth is nothing can stop us. When we feel like we can’t get passed the trees, when we feel like the brush is too much, cry out to the J man as ask for the path to be cleared.

The J Path, the path to Jesus is the only path through the woods. When the wolves come around and taunt us to leave the trail, when we are asked to defend our faith, when we are rebuked for our beliefs, are you strong enough to stand up and fight for Mr. J? Jesus knows we aren’t perfect. He knows we will fail at times. Jesus knows that some days the strength we have may falter. Do not be ashamed for what you believe in. Stand up and let it be known. The day may come when faith is outlawed, when uttering the word Jesus may be taboo and those who do may find themselves facing criminal charges. We cannot back away from our path. Find your way. Don’t loose sight of the right and wrong. The path to Mr. J is the only path worth taking. That path may not be the earthly feel good path, but everlasting life sure seems better then a few moments of bliss on earth. Just remember walk far enough on the path, and the sun will shine through.