Thursday, May 8, 2014


What does it mean to you to be "in a relationship"?

Break apart the word.. relationship...ship...you are in the ship with others...you depend on others to navigate.. to get somewhere...you have to help each other..can't get off.. you are committed to the journey.. relation.. an existing connection... relate .. to communicate in a way that both parties feel understood

Stay in the church.  Stay in the ship.  We may hit some rough waters but if we watch each other's back, we will be safe and make it to the other shore.

Remember, Jesus is there with us and if He needs to, He will calm the storm.


Sunday, March 30, 2014

Perception  Perception Perception Perception Perception Perception.....

It is all in the eye of the beholder!

A seeing eye dog "sees" for its' handler.  Steering around obstacles and helping the owner avoid dangerous areas.  The dog perceives because the owner cannot.

Wikipedia states that Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. 

Those of us that wear glasses can identify with this illustration.  You sit in the exam chair and the optometrist puts this machine in front of your face and you look through the holes as s/he flips the lenses.  It changes your view, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.  It is their job to try and help you see the world as sharply and clearly as possible. 

Our senses teach us about our world.  What we see, hear, feel, taste and touch.  We build our beliefs based on the information flowing around us since the time we were formed in our mother's womb.  Were you comfortable, secure, floating in your first world or were you bombarded with drugs, alcohol and adrenaline?  Did your mother sing to you? Massage you? or did you experience shaking? physical pain?  Many of us may not know the answer to this but that was the beginning of our first perception of the this thing called life.

We begin this life struggling to walk, feed ourselves and to learn to communicate with those around us.  I believe that God knows us from the womb and I believe that environment can hinder or move us toward greatness.  It is a great responsibility being a parent.  We owe it to our children to be balanced Christians, loving, leading and teaching them to come into their own.

The Gospel is simple and Thank God it is.  People's perception of what God meant has been twisting this message for too long.

Try an experiment.  Next time someone you know starts to talk to you, make your mind blank (like a chalkboard) and imagine their words are being written on that chalkboard.  Now look at the words and take them at face value. 

God told us to repent.
God told us to be baptized in Jesus' Name.
God told us we will receive the Holy Ghost.
God told us to love one another.
God told us to live holy.
God told us to worship Him only.

Let's clear our mind.  Reduce the pollution of this world. Let's see things clearly.