Insidious Adaptation

Thou shalt not... Christians are commanded to, and commanded not to. Yet, this freedom Christ gave when he died on that cross has gotten distorted. A sense of entitlement has come about. It is not your church or church attendance that matters, the list of actions, charities you contribute to, or reciting of verses that are lingering words in your mind to sound haughty, that matters, but our love. We are commanded to love the Lord our God and love a neighbor like ourselves. These are non-negotibles. Due to needing to categorize and condemn a man for their actions, keep them away from us, we Christ followers sure think a lot and do a lot for ourselves. We justify a sin when we know better. It turns out we are good at one thing aren't we, reviving an old forgiven nature, going back to our own vomit, awaiting a time to be spewed out of the mouth of the one who gave us life. A nature that a conversion of the Holy Spirit should no longer be in love with, no longer stand. A Christian ...

It isn't that we have such great lives, and that man as a whole is not living in his own squalor, but it's the fact that there is a reprieve offered. There is a way out of suffering, out of heartache, there is a peace that can be found here on earth that few really allow themselves to see. One could argue that man has a desire to suffer, living in destruction, to harm one another to then receive harm. We know that if people are suffering in the world that even as calloused as we have become, saturated with news of horrors unheard of in our own life, that we still hurt because others hurt. We can continue to distance in our minds of the suffering of other people, but we hurt, or we distance ourselves from the reality of it. When we start, in one way or another, to distance from the reality of human suffering, we all suffer. Think about when you read a memoir about some horrors a man or woman has lived through. We read these things as stories, yet there is a thin strand of re...

The time it takes to read this, you could have done something else. You could have presented to someone and made a sale. You could have went for a brisk walk around the block, for this I will make it quick, maybe half a block. You could have done what you've always done and continue scrolling through social media waiting for that one thing to distract or entice just enough that you can feel satisfied. The internet has no end, but my words do. Well, inspired words I must confess. Rarely do we get ideas on our own, for our entire life we are saturated with environmental conditions we have to understand and adapt to. We have to learn and grow for our individual environments. Learning about and playing into social media is some people's new Siberian tiger trying to eat them. their new reality. People need to adapt and learn the lay of the land as they navigate through the treacherous waters perceived as social expectations. I am slightly older than that, not much, but enough ...

When it all comes down, and all the things of this life, the accolades, the accomplishments, the desire for more, more money, more retirement, more wealth, no longer mattering, no longer allowing to define a man on a sinking ship, I think it will only be then that we can see what really mattered the entire time. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for  his steadfast love endures forever . -   Psalm 136:26   When a day comes, there are no accomplishments, there is no great writing for the day, no awesome gym workout, the clothes don't fit like they used to, old photos are nothing more than reminder of previous youthful looks, negating the happy times they were indicated for, we are still loved. No matter what the social group, the status quo is, if we fail to meet it, we can relax because we are loved. We are loved no matter what we do. We are loved when we screw up. We are loved when our hair is a mess, or we wear the improper clothing items to the work event. We...

Before we can celebrate the holidays a significant truth must be acknowledged:  11  Then I saw a great white throne  and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence,  and there was no place for them.   12  And I saw the dead, great and small,  standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life.  The dead were judged  according to what they had done  as recorded in the books.   13  The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades  gave up the dead  that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.   14  Then death  and Hades  were thrown into the lake of fire.  The lake of fire is the second death. 15  Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life  was thrown into the lake of fire.- Revelations 20:11-15.  It gets worse, if of course you are...

On the eve of a midterm election, one that my wife and I as average American citizens must admit to being of more importance than past elections, I must say, even with rising tensions, I see good things. The, "good" as I mention is not in how we traditionally, see, "good" or pleasurable, but "good" like heat to cow's milk makes the cream rise to the top. When things that are good, bad, indifferent, or effective, ineffective, or merely existing, they can sit, stagnant, never forced to grow, never encouraged to bring about strengths. As a therapist to war veterans, I find it fascinating that many of our nation's toughest struggle with daily life. They receive the diagnosis of PTSD, and take medications, or use some other method to "manage" themselves because war experiences have forever altered their mind, making them a, less-valuable commodity in the job market, if they are able to get a job at all. After all, when a business in Americ...

It's too bad... When the principals of America, based on Christianity, are now defiled with corruption. There's not even anyone to blame. There is the devil, he finds this stuff all very fascinating. There are people who have inundated the devil in their life, by way of a justified purpose. There are people who continue to remain on the outskirts, not wanting to choose sides. There are the rights the lefts all of which have their flaws, man and sin and all that. It's when we look to the wrong of the other side more than we spend time on promoting our own that I find fascinating. Offense wins games. To go on the offensive, is to be active in an attempt to score, in an attempt to win of some sort. Defense protects, tries to stop the other team from scoring. However, what side is it that continues to devalue the opposing team completely? What game is that where we stand on the sideline, send out a tweet or make a meme not to promote anything, but to defile the other ...

On a drive back from a military funeral, one that a team and I performed as an honor to a lost World War II veteran, we hear it. "Want to look better, naked?" The phrase intrigued me. It was a commercial for a company that I would eventually work for. It was the breaking down of that phrase, that indicated to me, that being naked is our most pure form, in this world. There are no hidden flaws behind mountains of sweaters and scarfs. There is no makeup or cover-up. There is the self, vulnerable, exposed. Now, one may think that words like, nude, naked, bare, are synonymous with sex and immorality, and trust me, at the time, I too thought, I probably need a little help in the nude. Consumed by an all-or-nothing thought process of, "bigger is better,"   figuring that tight sleeves were all I needed, realizing that being shirtless, or even more intense, pant-less, brought about inadequacies. It was the idea of exposing my hidden parts, that someone else is ine...

There seems to be a culture of underlying corruption, one of questions more than answers. Really, is all one has to do to corrupt or detangle another's beliefs is question. Is all the serpent did with Eve was question whether or not God meant this tree, this one right here? This little guy? It's a simple rubbing of a sweater that causes a bare thread to pop out and then a simple tug from it's owner that causes the entire piece to go to into the garbage real quick.  Lies and deceit are not as apparent as we would like them to be. Instead, for I love the use of my favorite word ever, they are, insidious. Yes, lies are sneaky little comments, jabs, questions, that to a person not very strong in their convictions tend to waver, fall, look back and be like, "whoa, that was quick." In reality, things are not as much a surprise until we look back at themt. On Netflix there is a docuseries (new word for the dictionary) about the 90's. I found it kind of funny...

Nothing. An absolute void of thing. (my definition). A thing- person, place, idea even, despite an idea being immeasurable, evening in the behavior being reported from the idea, I cannot "fake" an idea, because the mere mention, or the ability of the mind to grasp and even mimic the idea, therefore makes it real. So, nothing, as it is, void, has to be in relation to something. For example, today as of 10-13-2018, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have nothing in their win column. They have nothing, for there is something that it is in relation to. Nothing, compared to something. It doesn't have to be perfect.  Someone in America says, "I have nothing to eat," more likely than not, "nothing" is in comparison to some idea of "something else." Unsure of what that is. When we think in terms of all (which is a whole other concept itself) or nothing, we tend to get into trouble. For instance, if I am trying to do something great, let's say, rig...

On a September day in 1985, a joker was born. A humorous attempt at being liked, not to serve others with his humor, however to receive their admiration for it.  jest·er ˈjestər/ noun HISTORICAL a professional joker or “fool” at a medieval court, typically wearing a cap with bells on it and carrying a mock scepter. synonyms: fool , court fool, court jester,  clown ,  harlequin ,  pantaloon ;  More a person who habitually plays the fool. It is the intent of man to which we can measure their success. If a man wants to be rich to hoard riches, then that is who he is. If a man's wants a business to grow a business and provide for many employees in a work environment he influences, then that is who HE is. A person who makes themselves a fool for another to laugh, noble. Where as I, at my most-selfish, most ignorant to the needs of those around me, wanted you to laugh at me, for that showed you notice...