Storm

Sometimes a storm brews. You want it to stop. But it doesn't.. So you try to fix it. But the fix does more damage than the storm itself.

Let us see the storm as the next lesson. Be patient within it. Don't panic. Don't manipulate it. Let it rain. And look for that quiet small voice. You will know it when you hear it. It will be the one that tells you what you don't quite want to hear. Just be quiet and absorb it.

It just might be God teaching you something. 

OffTopic - FireFox

I have to say, The very best thing I have on my computer is the Internet browser FireFox. I know, this is a departure from what I normally write about, but it it adds so much to my experience on the internet.... It is just amazing.

If you are still using Internet Explorer - or any other internet browser.... well, a few minutes getting used to FireFox
  and you will understand what I am talking about. Right now, I am using the FTP extention to add files to Adam's Web site, Plus I am writting this blog entry, and I have 5 other pages that I am motitoring..... and I have only one Window open. It is fantastic! Plus, I don't get pop-up adds and spywear - as you do with Microsoft's Internet Explorer...

There are so many reasons why FireFox is great - Thank you Kate for Introducing this to me!!! (almost a year ago now!)

IDOLizing the Ideal

IDOLizing the Ideal

Talk about a thought that is germinating. These thoughts are completely open for discussion. I could be completely off base. But I think there is a measure of truth here. I hope you find it :P  Please comment!!

• We often idolize the Ideal.


• An Idol is something we fashion, create, or buy. We might be creating an image that we think will comfort, direct, or empower us.


• A Metaphysical Idol (Coined Term) is an idealized image we create in our mind.


• There are all sorts of things we apply our imaging too: Ourselves, Other People (parents/kids, friends, leaders.........), The Future, Our Possessions (There must be more!)


• We often expect these idols to remain unblemished and have God-like knowledge of our motivations, goals, intentions, and/or silent prayers.


• When the Image (or Idol) that we have does not perform as we as imagined, we are left angry, upset, disappointed and hurt.

When that image is attached to a person, that person will inevitably let us down.  We then often say, though with different words, “You have not measured up to your Image that I have fashioned. You have violated my trust in your image. Now I am justified as question your character because you have failed my image.” This image fashioning can easily be employed to tear a person down. You can set up an impossible-to-achieve image of a person, then compare them to it, and then discredit them based on that comparison. It is easily swallowed because the ideal is what everyone would want.

Both of these are so destructive. When we look upon people as imperfect-but-loved, there is such a higher chance for healing and growth. This is the attitude that God has with us. It gives us the freedom to screw up royally (when compared to the ideal), yet it never costs us the privilege to re-connect. No, we cannot expect other people to have this Agape-level love for us. So why do we allow them to be the source/cause of the weather we carry around with us. We can never find abiding peace when you are looking to another person.

So, I propose that I/you lay down the Metaphysical Idols I/you have created. Whether you believe in the big-g God or not, these Idols can do nothing for you - except defile (vs 15) your life with expectations that can never be met. There are far better things to worship than these!

Let’s DE-Idol-ize our lives

Who are we Are we the people that we see when we are ashamed of something we did? or are we something more? Are we the people we project with all our justifications?

Can we even "first know ourselves?"

Are you wearing a mask? Maybe we will only know when it is ripped off. 

What we worship...

What we worship...

(this will be changed when I wake up and think, what the heck was I trying to write. For anyone interested, this is what the first draft of a post usually looks like.)

So, idols.... What is an Idol?
(Incomplete answers) people or things or Ideals that take up an inordinate and unhealthy amount our thoughts and time.

Worship – dwelling on, giving time to, holding up as exalted. Acknowledgement of value and position with Words and deeds.

What Idols are you worshiping?

I am having to rethink what my life has been based upon. What ideal has it actually been focused around. What pervasive plan did I pay attention to? Did I worship it? Did it become the idol of my life?

I say yes. But it wasn’t just women. It was the pursuit of an ideal woman to complete me. Too much became watered down due to this pursuit.

So, now, I must lay down forever these and attend to the creator, for whom I was created. (spooky sounding- must be a better way to communicate it.)

Looking for some feedback – This thoughts are very new and very rough.

The Prophetic Conclusion?

The Prophetic Conclusion

Re-Read the last words of my last Blog entry.....

So I am reading the book that my father recommended to me. I hope that if any of you read it, you are able to see it only as a cautionary-tale, not the allegorical-biography that I see it as.

Hosea

When I am able to grasp it better, I will write more about it. However, in a million different ways, I have been writing about it for years.

I will say this, Beware of what you put your trust in. Consider that the accomplishments/rewards of your life are not necessarily the proud-result of your efforts, but a gift; a gift that, if/when taken away, will leave you destitute. At that point you will find that your only option, toward hope, is God. When/if you then earnestly pursue him, you will find the source of those things which you had before. And those things that are truly important will, one day, be gifted again to you.

Welcome the hard times. Let them push you into those open arms of God.

Zig

Zig     

Zig Ziggler has an amazing way of making it sound easy. I heard him on the radio talking about marriage. He said something to the effect that 100% of the happily married men, that he had ever met - were faithful to their wives. He then went on to point out that you always find what you are looking for. If you are looking for the positives of your spouse, you will find them. If you are looking for their shortcomings, you will find those too. You get what you put into it.

I think we can expand this to most everyone. Now, I know, I usually don’t pursue such “positive thinking” thought-trails. But, this one tickled my interest: this, on a day when my father came to me expressing the beginning of his discovery-of-responsibility. May the trip be long and fruitful.

It reminds me of several verses. Titus 1:15 – “(a)To the pure, all things are pure; (b)but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” And then Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Frankly, as I sit here, I realize how annoying these verses are to me. (haha- I guess this really puts me in the second classification of Titus 1:15 (b)– Sigh) Maybe it is because almost no one looks upon me for a long time and continues to see the good and wonderful parts. (And if they do, well, I feel confident I will eventually prove them wrong.) Yet, in the same breath, I must admit, I never look at them with that eye either. How can I see all these things when I am busy protecting myself from their human-ness.

Perhaps, as a wounded animal, still yet-to-be-whole, I have been looking to people for my appreciation, support, and affection. As they are incapable of being the inexhaustible-source, my heart has hardened toward them. Perhaps, when I become separate, unique, and whole, I won’t be dependant upon them for such gifts. Then, being fully satisfied, I will be appreciative of what they can give, instead of looking at what they cannot. Then, having shed my tick-like existence, I will experience people without fear or defensiveness. I will not be looking to them for anything. So, I, being un-needy, with no expectations, having fully forgiven them, seeing them without my judgment – I will finally see them for who they are. And because I am un-injured by the bad, I will be able to focus on the contents of Phil 4:8 in their life.

Yes Zig, you are right. However, we must first become unique, separate and whole, as living stones (I Peter 2:5). Then we will have the ability to see the pure within people, without fearing their defiledness. No Happy-Horse-Poo is going to make you able to see what your heart is hardened against. The most his message can hope to accomplish is to further define how short we come to that ideal. (Oh that I could get every reader to see this) And as such, it should drive us to cling harder to the only-known-source of that purity. Join me! I will meet you there...at the foot of the cross.

(I think I could become a great Fire and Brimstone Preacher – ‘Cept my message would be “Welcome the FIRE AND THE BRIMSTONE, for it will to force you into the OPEN ARMS OF GOD.”

What do you think?

RRRR

RRRR

It is amazing how poorly I get along with my ex-wife. Simply amazing. She effectively shuts down any communication, and then gets mad because I’m not where she wants me to be at her undisclosed time. You know what, Instead of this frustration head ache, I am going to accept that there are things I can do NOTHING about. Leave them in God’s hands and move on.

I am struggling severely with forgiveness right now. I know I have written about it, but God, it is hard to do. I listed 15 people that I am genuinely upset with. It hurts to have to forgive... but I guess that is because I have not forgiven yet.

Help God!!! Help me let go of the million different ways that people have insulted, disregarded, manipulated, accused, berated, lied, misrepresented, and ignored me. Lord, they only impact me because I have not let them Go. I cannot do it. I need your help. HELP!

Updated Ticks and Wounded Animals

Ticks and Wounded Animals (UPDATED)

Separate, Unique, and Whole - That is what Everyone need to become. In this state, we do not look for another to define us. We do not look to others for validation. We look only within ourselves, and ultimately, to our God.

By Separate, I mean independent of other’s. Unique means being fully ourselves. And whole means existing in a healthy non-addicted, sober, wholesome state.

When you are not in this state, you are probably a form of a Tick, or Wounded animal.

A tick is someone who feeds, in some way, off other people. A tick is a “needy” person. They use people to get something they need. Often, once they have burrowed into the life of a host, they are very hard to get out. When two ticks find each other, they suck off each other until neither has anything left. A tick never fully appreciates what they are getting from that person (until they have lost them.) Some sub-species of Ticks have perfected leaving before they get plucked out. Then they simply unconsciously move onto the willing host they can find. Others are not smart enough to get out before they are squeezed and expunged. In general, we all are some form of a tick. It is not healthy, but it is true. When we don’t have enough inside of us to fulfill us, we look to someone else to do that for us. Here is a test: Are the lives of those around you uplifted and encouraged and actualized by you? Or do you find yourself frustrated that you are not getting what you want from those people? So, how often you go “Ticking”...?

A Host is someone who allows Ticks to endlessly suck from them. They are the Co-Dependant person who accommodates dysfunctional people. They are enablers. In truth, they are simply another form of a Tick. They are getting the attention they crave, even though it is sucking them dry. It is surprising what we will accommodate to get something we need.

I know, this analogy is not perfect (no analogy is). But it serves to illuminate for us the-whom and the-what we are seeking to fulfill our needs. In a perfect world, with perfect people, we would look to the Endless Source for the Actualizing-Interaction that we all crave. But we are hardly perfect and most of us are Wounded Animals, in desperate need of some aid and comfort. We either medicate ourselves (legally or illegally), or we go “Ticking”; each temporarily sooths the longings and pains that we feel. We forget that at those moments of “To-HARD” we are to look to God, not the most available host.  (See 1 Peter 1&2)

In 1st Peter it describes us a living stones that should support each other as we create a holy place built on God’s Purposes, not our own. A living stone is Separate, unique, and whole. It is supported by other’s who, also, are placing their hope and trust on the only foundation that will adequately support us. But that foundation will not support our goals and dreams. No, that is why the “builders” rejected it. This is only good for one thing. And it is not tick-ing. It is a life that re-presents God. Lives built on this foundation will pluck out ticks and attempt to introduce them to the Endless source. It is the only source that Heals and Forgives, allowing us to become Unique, separate, and whole.

As a wounded Animal and occasional “Ticker,” have realized that I have to cut off the ticking activities in my life. I am doing no one any good. My only option it to draw closer to the source I spoke of. No person can ever fulfill the Idealized expectations that I create. I am encouraged though. As parts of me heal, I am able to touch others. And as they begin to try to make me a host, I can easily re-introduce them to the source that I know to look to.

It is nice when I am not a Tick or a Host. Perhaps, once I am no longer a wounded animal... Well... all of that will come in God’s good time.

Ticks and Wounded An

Ticks and Wounded Animals

Separate, Unique, and Whole - That is what we need to become. Everyone needs to become. For in this state, we do not look for another to define us. We do not look to others for validation. We look only within ourselves, and if we are smart, to our God.

By Separate, I mean independent of other’s. Unique means being fully ourselves. And whole means existing in a healthy non-addicted, sober, wholesome state.

When you are not in this state, you are probably some form of either a Tick, or a wounded animal.

The Tick looks for others to feed on. Others who can give them something they need. Something they don’t have. A sense of accomplishment, pride, stability, love, desire... feel free to expand. They are the woman who can’t live without a man. They are the man with the wandering eye. They are the cheaters, stealers, and white-liars. They are anyone who needs someone else to fulfill some self-centered yet justifiable desire.

The wounded Animal is a different, because they are wounded and cannot survive without their subjects. Approach them wrong, and you’ll have the scars to remember it. They have been injured or hurt, and they can’t run and walk and play they way others can. They may self medicate. They hobble around hiding their pain. And heaven help you if you corner them. They will take your arm off.

Alright. Check back. I have a lot more to say about this.