I have made some adjustments to this blog site. Apparently, I inadvertently triggered FeedBurner.

My apologies.

I’ve been thinking about writing an update on this blog. I may but I’ve not taken the time. Follow me on Facebook for my up-to-the-minute updates.

It’s right in my wheel-house of skill set. I’m having fun.

I am 61 years old. There, I’ve said it.

The Good

This means that I grew up in the ’60s. The music that I listened to in high school, my music, is now considered “classic” rock and is still being played today. We didn’t invent drugs, but we took their use to whole new level. And we also discovered that our parents and the authorities were wrong – smoking marijuana did not automatically lead to heroin addiction. We didn’t invent sex, but again, we took its use to whole new level. We didn’t invent being anti-war but we took its meaning to whole new level.

There are many things for which I am grateful that I was born in 1951.

The Bad

I’ve been telling people my true age for a while but I’ve never put it out on the Internet before.

Why? Fear.

Anything that is written on the Internet gets stored for a VERY LONG TIME. And it gets indexed. So the search engines will helpfully find all the personal information you’ve ever posted. So anything I write can and will be found by any future wife, any future employer, any future authority figure.

So, if this personal information is “out there” who could use it and for what purposes? I don’t know what for and for that I was afraid.

The Solution

The Apostle John writes that “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” 1 Jn 4:18 This is in the same paragraph where John writes that “God is love.” So the solution to my fear is to trust God.

That is easier said than done, but I can trust that God, who made it possible for me to have a Father<->Son relationship with Him, will take care of me no matter what happens in the future.

So I’m changing my Fb About page to allow it to display my birth year. Any on my next birthday, it will announce to all my friends my new real age. And I’m trusting God with how it may be used.

Do you tell people your real age? Why or why not?

I was brought up that there were rules that we HAD to follow. And I’ve always been fastidious in following the rules.

There were the 10 Commandments. There were the traffic rules. There were the rules that my Southern Baptist Grandfather made my Mother and Aunt follow when we visited his house. The school we attended had a unique set of rules.

Then I got “saved” and I got a new set of rules to replace the set I had had. Now, it seems that God had new expectations of me.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. Jn 14:21 NIV

So if I am to show God I love Him, I have to obey Him – right? A friend of mine commented that “Patrick, we are just a bunch of control freaks who are looking for the right rules to follow.” That resonated with me.

Grace

Then I discovered GRACE!

Paul Zahl has the best definition of grace that I’ve found,

“What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unloveable. It is being loved when you are the opposite of loveable. … Grace is one-way love.” [Grace in Practice p.36 affiliate link]

Grace has blown me away. I pretty much understand it in my head. I’m slowly incorporating it into my heart.

Does this mean that I don’t have to obey the rules? Yes, I still have to obey the traffic laws or I will reap the consequences.

Gospel = Good News

So the good news is that I do not have to obey some rules to get in God’s good favor. God has given me His good favor when I didn’t deserve it. He sent His Son to die for moi and I hadn’t even followed any rules or obeyed any commandments. Jesus went to the cross to take the punishment I deserved so that I could have a relationship with Him and His Father forever. Jesus didn’t do away with the Laws; Jesus fulfilled their requirement for blood punishment for my breaking them all. And I get the reward of eternal life that Jesus earned by following ALL the Laws forever.

This concept blows me away. It is hard for my rule-ingrained mind to understand.

Does it seem like to you that grace is too good to be true?

I recent went on a camping trip with a bunch of my mostly Christian friends. We had an awesome time together.

One day I chose to wear a tee-shirt that some good friends had given me from one of their favorite coffee shops Bad Ass Coffee.

Controversy

To say this generated some “discussion” would be accurate. Some brought up the Ephesians 4:29 Bible verse:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

It is part of the body; it is also an animal – that happens to be referenced in the Bible. There is also society of clean thinkers called the Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles which has “ass” as part of their code-words.

Question

Can Christians say “ass?” Is my tee-shirt inappropriate? What do you think?

Usually, pastors will take a few weeks off during the Summer. To fill their pulpits in their absence, they get a substitute speaker.

This “substitute” preacher gives a message that blew me away. (it is 33 minutes and you’ll be glad you spent on it)

Known and Loved | Jono Linebaugh from Coral Ridge | LIBERATE on Vimeo.

I listened to it twice today. I’ll probably listen to it some more later this week.

Yes – it’s that good.

What did you think?

How much “stuff” do we just accumulate?

Not a pretty sight.

Sometimes I buy something, with great intentions of how I will use it, and yet … it never gets used.

Solution

The only solution I’ve found has been to either give it away to your local thrift store or to just toss it in the trash.

Tough love? Maybe, but it has worked for me.

What have you done when you’ve reached your “there’s too much” breaking-point?

Have you ever had something side line you from your normal routine? Something like:

• An extended illness
• A car “challenge” that left you without transportation
• Losing your job
• Being dumped by your significant other

Our routine is interrupted; our lives are thrown out of sync.

Used under CC-by-nc-sa permission.

This Summer

This is kind of how I feel this Summer. I’m not where I was. I’m not were I had planned to be. But here I am.

So what can I do?

Redeem The Time

We can make good use of this time. We can be productive. The key is to be creative.

So, what I’ve done is to get very involved. I’ve stepped up my service in a number of areas. I’m serving a whole lot more in almost every organization to which I belong. I’ve gone to two, sometimes three, events almost every weekend. I’m continuing to be sensitive to when God speaks into my life. In the mean time, I’m having fun.

Question

Have you had a time when your “normal” was interrupted? What did you do?

Fears

We all have them.

Some we know about, others we discover as we go along.

They say that the most common fear is the fear of getting up in front of a group and speaking. Others are afraid of flying. Some are afraid of groups of people; others are afraid of being totally alone. I know some people are afraid of trying to do new things on their computer.

Courage

I’ve heard it said that “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” Courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is acting in spite of fears.

Fear is a feeling.

Courage is an action.

I’ve learned I can have the feeling and still do something. After Trudie died, I had many new opportunities that I didn’t have before. But they were new and I had never tried them before. So there were some fearful feelings about doing them. I went ahead and did them anyway and most of the time I ended up enjoying myself. I had learned something – new can be scary and be fun too.

Now, I’m more open to trying new things. I’m also becoming more aware of when my fears kick in and to accept them but not to let them block me from trying things.

Now that I’m single again I have new sets of opportunities. Again, fear of doing new things sometimes pops up. I accept them and usually go ahead and do them.

What fear have you faced recently and did something anyway?

One year ago today, I got married. I was very happy that day. Little did I know what a ride was awaiting.

"Thank you, God, can I have another..."

Lesson Learned

I have learned a great lesson through the pain of my divorce. It was a huge amount of pain. This was a different kind of pain from when my first wife, Trudie, died. I still have more healing to do and will attend my church’s divorce recovery classes. But, I can say that I’m a better man for it.

To do list:

• feel the pain & grieve
• turn everything over to God’s care
• ask for help when I need it
• remember the lesson learned
• move on