Musings on God, and other thoughts

Is God lost?

2014-01-17T10:21:00.001-08:00

I have had quite a few emails lately, asking me "what happened to God" in my posts. With a blog title that so prominently refers to Him, it appears people believe I have lost sight of the Almighty in what I write.

I can assure you... God is still on the throne.

Those who know me spiritually know that I am a relatively tolerance based moderate. Jesus is shown to have tolerated much more than he went around turning over tables, in order to show all people how He expected them to live. Believe me, God Himself tolerates much more than even I do.

This article is not about tolerance, but tolerance is exactly why I do not constantly blast The Word of God throughout each post I write. Pastor Mark Driscoll, of the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, wrote a great article on tolerance for those who want to know more.

If people saw my draft folder here on my blog site, they would see countless draft topics for articles. This is because God speaks to me about many things, and if I do not write them down I will never return to them. I always prayerfully consider if it is a subject that He is asking me to write before I write on it. Many of the ideas are for me to study, or that lead to other things.

For example, there is a draft in my folder on God's unconditional love and dogs. I love speaking on this subject, and have done so at many churches. Over the past two years, it just has not been the proper time to write on this subject. It is not that I do not believe in the message; rather it is that He gives me so many other messages that have priority.

That does not mean, however, that I always write the subjects He wants me to. As a loving God, He allows me the freedom to sometimes wander and write on subjects that resulted from my thinking about subjects He has given me, but are not quite His point in the idea. I am human, after all.

I wrote on one of my investments not too long ago. I am pretty sure God did not expect me to write on the company, but He allowed me the freedom to write about something I am passionate about and related to His thoughts about the health of the people of the world.

Do not worry. God is still in control.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else

2014-01-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

I would like to start by apologizing for offending those who will read this post and be offended. I already know who you are, and quite honestly, I am not sorry that you will be offended. I would like to say that I am speaking from righteous indignation. Truth is, I am speaking from being tired and having the world dumped on my shoulders, and having people complain that I am not dealing with the world as they would have me deal with it.

I know how God feels.

Like with God, these people do not know the whole story of what I am dealing with. They do not know why I am doing what I do, and they want explanations as to why I am doing what I do. They make excuses for why they cannot be involved, or why they do not seek answers, or why they are not kept informed. They do not understand that I am not just sitting around waiting for things to do. I have commitments, time constraints, and limited resources... just like God is not sitting around playing Solitaire, waiting for us to tell Him how to fix the world (Guess what! He already has a plan!).

We, as a people, make excuses in an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for the world around us. We blame God for what happens in the world. Or we blame others. "I don't know how." "I am too busy, or too tired, or too old, or too young."

Ben Franklin wrote the title of this blog. Ayn Rand said "Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one's emotions." Mr. Rand's statement rings quite true in my ears lately.

"Some of us are not in a position to pick up the phone." What does that mean, anyway? The phrase "not in a position to" is a general ambiguous clause that really means: I am not authorized to; I am unable to, even if I wanted; I am unable to NOW, but if circumstances change I could; or I don't want to. I am going to go out on a limb and assume the latter, since the one just prior really comes down to the next excuse.

"I don't have time." Are you too busy washing the dog? Or running your business? Or too busy with your own family's life? Again, this is a cop out. We daily say we do not have time for things, yet we fill unending hours of our day posting on Facebook, driving in the car (ever hear of Bluetooth?), eating lunch, watching television. Life is like a jar of rocks, and there is always time for a beer.

"It was too late." (Or too early). Prioritize. Where I am, 6am is 9am on the East coast. I find my 7am ride to work is a perfect time to call those on the East, or Central time zones. I make time to deal with people on that side of the country when I am driving and have 40 minutes that most people consider "busy." 10pm my time is 8pm Honolulu time... too late to call someone here, but not there. Lunch time here is... well, lunch time for everyone no this coast. Sorry, I just do not buy this excuse.

"I do not know what is going on!" I view this excuse as a culmination of the excuses above, and many more. If you really want to know what is going on, you will find a way to figure it out. Make time, make calls, adjust your schedule. Do not put others off because they are not available when YOU want their attention. Sometimes others are busy too - make an agreement to call or get together, and live up to that agreement. When you don't, people come to expect you will not be reliable and they will not keep you informed.

I could go on. Excuses are plentiful. Jeremiah had a pile of excuses ready when God called him to be a prophet. God says in Luke 12:48 "of he who is given much, much is expected."

Let's quit rationalizing our emotions, and do what we are called to do. I will leave this post with two things:

First, a moral story about being there when someone needs you. This is an urban legend, but the lesson is valid none-the-less. The Marine made no excuses.

And lastly, a quote from God's word:

The Lord has shown you what is good.

He has told you what he requires of you.

You must treat people fairly.

You must love others faithfully.

And you must be very careful to live

the way your God wants you to. (Micah 6:8, NIRV)

Merry Christmas, Buon Natale & С Рождеством: A multicultural Christmas wish for you and yours

2013-12-25T10:09:00.001-08:00

I live in a multi-cultural family. We celebrate Christmas today, and on January 7. This gives me plenty of time to reflect on the differences between Western and Orthodox celebrations of day of the birth of Jesus Christ.

I remember Christmas of my youth being filled with presents (US views), Christmas Eve mass and lots of spaghetti cooked by my father and lasagna by my sister (Italian), and extended family gathered together. As I grew older and had kids of my own, it always bothered me that it seemed the present count began to mean more to society than the birthday of Jesus.

My Russian (Ukrainian/Eastern European) family brought back the true meaning of Christmas for me. In Ukraine, I saw many of the traditions of old still being practiced, and my family still practices many of those traditions in the USA today.

My wife never had a Christmas tree. She would go to the tree lot where they sold trees, and she would gather evergreen branches to decorate the home. Evergreen was a symbol of life before the first Christmas. People either prayed outside among the evergreens, or they decorated their homes with evergreen branches during winter in order to celebrate life. What a fitting celebration of the birth of Christ. We do have a Christmas tree each year.

The angel on top of the tree is a must in our family. We have never used a star. For us, the angel symbolizes the significance of the angels who appeared above Bethlehem to announce Jesus' birth on the first Christmas. Russians, who tend to be a bit superstitious, use the angels to make a statement of faith.

Russians also do not have Santa Claus, rather they have Father Frost (Ded Moroz) and his beautiful Snegurochka (snow maiden granddaughter). Like Santa, he brings gifts, but not in secret - and they are brought on New Years in order to separate the more commercial aspect of gift giving from Christmas and the true meaning of Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, Russian families have a festive meal called "The Holy Supper." Family gathers at the table to honor the coming Christ Child. A white table cloth, symbolic of Christ's swaddling clothes, covers the table (we skip the hay) to remind the diners of Jesus in the manger. A tall white candle is placed in the center of the table, which symbolizes Christ as "the Light of the World." Bread is served, and symbolizes Christ as "the Bread of Life."

The meal starts with prayer, led by the father of the family. This is a prayer of thanksgiving for all the blessings of the past year, followed by prayers for the good things int he coming year. Usually, people visiting the home are greeted with "Christ is Born!" And the family responds "Glorify Him!"

(My wife, father, and daughter)

The mother usually blesses each person with honey in the form of a cross on each forehead, saying "In the Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, may you have sweetness and many good things in life and in the new year." This is followed by everyone partaking of the bread, dipping it first in honey and then in chopped garlic. Honey is symbolic of the sweetness of life, and garlic of the bitterness.

Dishes do not get washed until presents are opened. Presents are almost always something practical: a warm winter jacket, shoes, high heel boots for women, and non-practical gifts are saved for children. I have to admit that the Italian blood in me always sees me purchasing at least one item for my wife that is not practical (in my eyes - but totally necessary in hers).

I bring this up because our country has commercialized Christmas, and removed Jesus as the center of the holiday in the name of political correctness. I want to respect other people's beliefs, which is why I wish my Jewish friends "Happy Hanukkah," (and they always wish us "Merry Christmas.)" There are a lot of religious holidays during Winter, but December 25 and January 7 are "the day of Christ" and we keep that view always.

Final thoughts on this Christmas morning, from my family to yours:

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!" (Musical link)

Accepting of Tolerance in the holidays

2013-12-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

I often get called out by Christians as "promoting tolerance." In reality, yes, I am a tolerant person who believes Christians need to be tolerant of the beliefs of others.

We are going to start with a semantic lesson on what tolerance is.

Wikipedia probably has the most commonly used definition by Christians: Tolerance is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own.

What most Christians get hung up on, and believe tolerance means, is in the word "permissive" - If I am tolerant of someones lifestyle, I am allowing, or encouraging, that way of living. Several dictionaries even define permissive as "being tolerant."

I believe the word most Christians are looking for is "acceptance" - agreement with or belief in an idea, opinion, or explanation.

The actual definition of tolerance is: allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference.

Acceptance is believing in something and permitting it, while tolerance is living with it even if you disagree with it. For example, I am not accepting of my 13 year old dating. I do not permit it. But I am tolerant of my dog sitting on the sofa. Though I do not agree with it, I permit it.

What Christians argue about in the debate on "tolerance" is all about the semantics.

Like it or not, God is tolerant of those who do not believe in him. He is tolerant of those who have different views than Him. He is tolerant of war. He is tolerant of sin. The Bible is strewn with tolerance from cover to cover. God does not, however, accept certain things. He puts up with us sinning people, and loves us regardless of his dislike for sin (tolerance), and even allows us into His kingdom (if we are repentant). But He does not allow unrepentant sinners in His kingdom (acceptance).

Even in the Christian world, we practice tolerance and acceptance daily, all while we beat people over the head with our Bibles when they do not meet our expectations of how to live. Baptists tolerate and accept those who are not baptized in water. Evangelicals tolerate and accept those who do not speak in tongues. Protestants (often) tolerate Catholics (SDAs, Mormons), even though they do not accept their ways and beliefs.

So why do we treat non-Christians differently than we treat our own?

Keep in mind that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and all sin is equal in God's eyes (James 2:10). The earthly consequences of our acts vary greatly, and although some sins are greater than others, any sin will prevent us from going to heaven without the saving grace and sacrifice of Jesus.

Essentially, any one sin is sufficient to keep us from God.

So why do I bring this up today, on Christmas Eve?

Because God sent Jesus to the world in order to forgive our sins. Jesus tolerated sinners to bring people to acceptance of His ways. He used a gentle and loving hand (in most cases) to win people from their sins and bring them into His kingdom. God wants us to do the same as He did. Discern right from wrong. Know when to be loving of others, even if their lifestyle is not "acceptable" to us. Apply a loving hand versus turning over the tables.

It is time to tolerate some views that are different than mainstream Christian beliefs if we want to win people to Christ. That does not mean we have to be accepting of those ways. It simply means we need to love others as God loves us. God sent his Son to us, to be sacrificed for us.

Give the world a Christmas present this year. Live a loving life as God wants you to, and do not try to impose your personal views on everyone else. Share the Gospel. Don't beat people with it.

After all, Jesus saved sinners with views that were different from His. He did not save Christians.

Think first and show respect to all

2013-12-11T17:14:00.002-08:00

Ok. I spent a good part of last night listening to God speak to me about my offending a friend by re-posting this Matt Walsh blog. I apologize profusely to my friend. I was disrespectful by not thinking of what consequences my actions would have.

My friend is a member of the LGBTQ community, and it was not my intention to offend her. But it is an example of how people rarely think before they speak or act regarding sensitive subjects. But what God said to me what that we, as a people, need to start respecting each other in all things.

As I said to my friend, I see arguments on both sides that are valid. In fact, God showed me that there are many such dilemmas where a valid argument can be made on both sides of a sensitive situation.

Matt is not necessarily against the LGBTQ community, rather he is against applying freedom restrictions unfairly. He was correct in his statements about freedom of association and expression, but he neglected to remember that respect would say we should not refuse service to reasonable people, despite our personal views.

My friend also had a valid viewpoint that refusing to serve a member of the LGBTQ community is akin to refusing to serve an African-American or a Jew. That situation would surely cause lawsuits, and be supported by even Christians nation-wide. But these lawsuits and arrests simply polarize the sides.

Our country is divided enough already.

What happened to treating all people with respect? Is suing and having a judge force a baker to cater a gay couple's wedding really respecting his religious views? And if you were this gay couple, would you really want this baker making YOUR cake? Just go find another baker. Or look at the t-shirt company that referred a gay pride parade to another printer that could print for them, because of his religious beliefs? The t-shirt company was being respectful of the gay's right to march, so would it have hurt to show respect for the t-shirt company's right to their religious beliefs? Or was it better to sue?

People used to vote with their feet, much like was done to the florist in Washington. People simply quit going there. They patronized other businesses, and the florist went out of business very quickly.

Businesses are said to have the right to refuse service to anyone. It is obvious that is not true. If it was, businesses could refuse service to African Americans, or Catholics, or gun owners, or women.

Yes, I snuck gun free zones in there. It is not the same thing, you say? What about "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service?" Or "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service for Any Reason?" How about a handicapped person bringing a dog to a restaurant? Believe me, I have done that with my Service Animal, and you might be surprised how many people (including business owners) think that is "unreasonable" and hassle me.

Where do we draw the line? Who gets their rights and beliefs respected, and who does not?

We have double standards in our country.

An example: My wife worked in a retail environment for a while. One of the employees she worked with came from a country where the women were not allowed to view a man in underwear. As such, she could not put packages of underwear on the shelves. The (considerable) extra work fell to my wife, who did it quietly. Could we say my wife respected the rights of this co-worker? Could we also say that the co-worker was disrespectful, by taking a job where stocking shelves was a job requirement (and the job description called out stocking shelves) and refusing to do it?

How about another example? Two people were working at a nursing home, where the job requirement was to do ADLs (activities of daily living) with seniors, including helping them bathe. But one employee called out "religious beliefs" as a reason not to help seniors bathe. Instead of having to bathe 7 seniors a shift, the other employee was left to bathe 14 people. I'm curious how somebody gets offered and accepts a job at a retirement home and then refuses to do a major part of the work. Never mind this same person would smoke, and drink at bars, both of which were against this persons religion. Respectful?

The country seems to have gotten into the realm of Lil Kim in the song "Money, Power, Respect," where she says first comes money, then power, then people respect you. It is time to let go of the power we desire over others, and go straight to respect.

I guess my point is that we as a people need to learn to respect others in all we do.

Shop where people treat you well. Sell to anyone who can afford your product. Remember that others may be having a bad day. Treat all people the same. Respect cultural differences (yes, not everyone is American, nor understands our culture). Ignore other people's sexual preference. Keep your sexual preferences to yourself. It is a two way street in everything.

Mostly, think.

Let's get back to being united, and working together.

Thanksgiving Wishes - avoiding the stress

2013-11-28T11:38:00.001-08:00

I was asked how I avoid the stress of the holidays the other day. Simple. Keep focused on the true meanings of the holidays.

We historically set aside this day to give thanks to God for what He has given us in life. Far too often we allow the pressures of excess and commercialization to distract us from the true meanings of holidays. Buy more, eat more, watch more is supposed to equate to loving others more. We often worry about the traditions more than the reason we celebrate.

To this extent, my family has chosen to break "tradition" this year. We will eat a relatively modest meal together. It will consist of Russian mors, ham, potatoes, squash, fresh baked rolls, and (traditional) pumpkin pie. The focus of this meal is not football, or gorging ourselves. It is purely about the family and giving thanks to God for all He has blessed us with.

It will be a stress free and joyful holiday for us.

On this US Thanksgiving day, I want to express my thanks for all my family, friends, and acquaintances, past, present and future. Each one of you has blessed us and brought us to where we are in our lives today. May God bless you more than He blessed us.

Why I invested in TellSpec (What's in your food?)

2013-11-21T12:13:00.001-08:00

I came across TellSpec not long ago on Facebook. After looking into the company, I made an investment in the company by way of indigogo. I began recommending TellSpec to my friends, and I started to be questioned on "why such a supporter of TellSpec?"

Since then, I have been spending some time communicating with the founder and CEO of TellSpec, Isabel Hoffmann. She is pretty amazing, having started 8 companies and negotiating several investment deals and business acquisitions. Her daughter came down with a mysterious disease caused by sensitivity to gluten and other allergens. Inexact food labels made it difficult to find foods that would not contribute to her daughter’s illness. Unable to find a product to help manager her food intake, TellSpec was born. You can read more about Isabel's story in this TellSpec blog post.

Isabel and I were having a discussion the other day when she asked me to share my story with her, so here is my "Why I believe in TellSpec" story.

My medical journey has taught me a lot about how certain things react with the human body. I have gotten tired of hearing “you are an interesting case” and “there is no apparent reason” from doctors.

I also learned that for weight loss in a diabetic, calories in vs. calories out does not necessarily equate to weight loss. This is partially due to chemical reactions from food and medicines.

The observations I now keep in mind daily are:

Limiting medications, in favor of real food, has health benefits.
I am super sensitive to chemicals and additives in foods, and factors in my environment
You cannot totally trust a food label

The main reasons I am a fan of TellSpec relates mostly to the last 2 items on my list. I want to know what is in my food. TellSpec can tell you what is in your food and beverages, including allergens, chemicals, nutrients, calories, and ingredients. It also lets you know about inaccurately labeled foods, and has descriptions of oddball ingredients, like food dyes and what they are made of. It can relate how you feel with the foods you eat, which can help identify food allergies.

Imagine knowing what is in your food at a restaurant. Or if "fresh foods" have chemical pesticides on them. Or environmental toxins, which have been linked to heart defects. It can even read through the packaging.

When it measures the food, using a miniature spectrometer, the data is uploaded to the Cloud and run through a proprietary analysis algorithm. The resulting analysis is then downloaded to your smartphone. It is a pretty amazing device.

There is a cool video showing the working prototype here.

I believe this device will bring new directions to the "healthy food" or "clean food" world. This, and the team behind TellSpec, is why I stand behind firmly behind the company.

Right now, TellSpec is raising funding for the development and manufacture of the device. You do not get a piece of the company, but for a couple hundred bucks you can get a device (or 2, or 4). You can also get the SDK to develop applications for iOS and Android.

(Another shameless plug: I encourage you to invest, as well, if you care about what goes in your mouth. Only $25 and up.)

Can you trust a food label?

2013-11-20T19:42:00.002-08:00

A friend of mine, Kaymann Woo, got me to looking at food labels (more specifically, beverage labels) by pointing out that his fruit drink had no fruit in it. I began looking at what I drank more closely, as I was trying to lose weight and was trying to eliminate "unnatural" things from my diet. I found that my favorite drink had the same issues - lots of things I could not pronounce, and questions about what exactly natural extracts and flavorings were.

I found that my "sparkling mountain water, naturally flavored and with vitamins and antioxidants" really was a chemists dream. It has (in order of inclusion) water, natural flavors, malic acid, potassium benzoate, sucralose, and another 10 ingredients. Delicious.

This led to research on flavorings, I found this CBS video segment from 60 Minutes which is informative. But these were just the start. I started noticing that "healthy" foods were not so healthy, like the "Healthy Apple Chips" I bought the other day, "made with real apples." They turned out to be dried and ground apples mixed with high fructose corn syrup, and formed into what looked like apple slices. The first ingredient in them was the corn syrup. Not so healthy.

How about a vegetable juice so many people buy because it gives lots of servings of vegetables in just one can? It is made with 100% vegetable juice! Read it again, it is not 100% vegetable juice, one of it's ingredients is 100% juice from vegetables. There is also 690mg of sodium in one 11.5 oz can (and also natural flavors, and some other goodies). It has plenty of good stuff in it, but it is certainly not healthy with all that salt. Yet they enjoy almost $1 billion dollars in sales per year.

Here is a good article on food labels from the Seattle Times, where they explore food labels a bit. The Mayo Clinic also has a "how to read the label" article.

The big one I have found is serving size. I recently discovered that an Italian ice product I like, which comes in what looks like one of those single serving ice cream containers and has reasonable nutrition information, actually has 2 servings in each container. One serving is just a few spoonfuls, so to eat the whole container is pretty darn unhealthy. Or the prepared Cuban sandwich I love - 1 sandwich, 2 servings, 500 calories.

How about "white meat only" on your chicken? According to the government, it can have no dark meat, but it can have other "stuff." There are a bunch of Federal labeling rules, but they are relatively lax when it comes to the actual packaging of food. Or, have we discussed "natural flavors" such as vanilla flavoring? It is from castorium, which is beaver excretions from the far end of the animal. Yuk.

Food companies are in business to sell you food, not to make you healthy. But they understand that "healthy," "low fat," "low sodium," and "sugar free" sell. As such, they package things in packages to entice you to buy. Even the color of the label matters - Cornell University found that the color green on the label actually increases people's perception of food being healthy, even when it is not. We are not talking uneducated people, we are talking people who look for healthy food.

Read and understand the labels. You might be surprised at what you are eating.

GMOs and food additives: food for man, or devil in disguise?

2013-11-19T17:46:00.002-08:00

I have to admit, I hate the GMO argument. It is too biased for real life. As Stewart Lyman says in his article on the recent GMO labeling debate, "neither side seems interested in discussing the scientific issues involved." It is also interesting to me that the food additive issue gets discussed, but the information is not overly scientific either.

I admit that I fully support growers producing genetically altered foods (GMO). Without these foods, we would be hard pressed to feed our rapidly growing world population. I am not for banning GMO as some countries have, nor do I think a label that says "contains GMO ingredients" is informative enough to be useful. I think a good alternative is the "Non GMO Verified Project" where foods get a "GMO free" label upon verification, like organic foods get. This is a better solution because it is a voluntary certification, and the program already exists and works well.

Simply put, when you eat real food, your body recognizes the DNA and natural chemical makeup of it. As a result, you are able to metabolize nutrients correctly and you reap the benefits of that food (nutritionally and health-wise). Eat something unnatural (DNA or chemically) and your body is physiologically confused, resulting in stress on the body. Eating corn modified with fish genes, your body just isn't sure if you are eating corn or fish. Pretty simple concept. I know some corn is modified with genes from Bacillus thuringiensis, which is used as a biological pesticide, and commonly grows in animal feces. Sound more appetizing? I have enough medical problems, I don't need to risk more, like renal problems. I will let those much smarter than I figure out the health issues of GMO and stick with a more natural diet.

Now part of the problem is "how natural is a natural diet?" Because chemicals in foods tend to cause adverse reactions in my body, I try to avoid chemical additives in or on my food, whenever I can. I decided that if I cannot pronounce it, it probably does not belong in my body. Since I have a reduced auto-immune system, I need as few reactions in my system as possible. This is why I started researching clean eating. But you still need to use your head. I have seen clean eating sites recommending eating "power bars" and "liquid Stevia only." I have not seen too many natural power bars, and I have seen plenty of Stevia liquids on the supermarket shelf with questionable ingredients. I personally use a powered Stevia that is 100% natural, so read labels and know what the ingredients mean.

And what exactly are "artificial flavors" and "natural flavors?" They are both chemical flavorings, which supposedly use the "same" chemical makeup. There are arguments about artificial flavors being more healthy, but I prefer something more natural. But keep in mind that any flavoring that is from a natural source can be called "natural flavors." Natural raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla flavors can come from castoreum (or other natural sources), but it still does not sound pleasant to eat something with an excretion of a beaver butt as an ingredient.

And artificial sweeteners have a bunch of debate around them. My personal view is that the "pink," "blue," and "yellow" sweeteners are all chemical or chemically modified sugar substitutes. Again, I stick with Stevia, but I also watch those carefully. Be careful what you buy, and read the labels.

I do want to say that eating natural should not be a dogma. In our world, one cannot avoid eating some “unnatural” things, or things with additives. As I said in previous articles, our bodies are smart and they do adapt. We just do not live in a "natural world."

However, a more natural diet is much less stressful on the body, and knowing what we are eating allows us to control the negative reactions our bodies have to “bad” things we eat (and I define “bad things” as things which each individual does not, or cannot, tolerate). Natural foods help alleviate symptoms (not, I do not say "cure") from many maladies, like reduction of inflammation, lowering of blood glucose levels, and reducing pain from headaches, which ultimately allows us to live healthier lives.

Unnecessary drugs vs. natural healing

2013-11-14T10:07:00.002-08:00

In writing another blog post, which was getting much too left brained, I went down a few rabbit trails. One of them was prescription drugs, and how some can be replaced with real foods that give the same results in a healthier way.

Note: I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. See your physician before you modify your lifestyle, or change any treatments.

Where do I get off saying many medications are not necessary? Look, I am a diabetic, and my pituitary gland does not produce most hormones. I understand needing certain medications. Without hormones and insulin, my lifespan would be quite short. But the fact is, regular doses of medications do not work in the body in the same way as if they are produced naturally by a human body. Our bodies are smart. They know when we need more, when we need less, and they adjust accordingly throughout the day. When you need to use regular doses of drugs, you are working contrary to how the body was designed to work in its natural state. You force your body into an unnatural rhythm - "eat exactly at these prescribed times, and these prescribed amounts, instead of when you are hungry." It is kind of like using regular gasoline in a vehicle that requires premium. It works for a while, but eventually you will have engine knock.

Drugs are also cyclical animals.

You can take one to resolve a problem, and it may cause a side effect. Another drug is taken to resolve the side effect, but it's side effect may exasperate the original problem you had. I was having headaches in 2012, and was prescribed a drug to treat the headaches. One side effect of that drug was nausea. The nausea drug I was prescribed had a potential side effect of causing headaches. In my book, it was better to find a natural way to resolve the headaches.

Another cyclical example is that, in a diabetic, increased insulin use causes resistance to insulin. Resistance to insulin means increased insulin needs. Increased insulin use causes weight gain. Increased weight causes insulin resistance. See the cycle? For me, eating real food lowers blood sugar levels. In turn, I use less insulin. Resistance is decreased, weight can be lost (with proper diet and exercise), resulting in less insulin, causing greater sensitivity to insulin, resulting in weight loss and less use of insulin... you get the point. Doing this, I have reduced my insulin usage by nearly 50% since July 2013, and have lost some weight.

Doing research, I also found that certain foods reduce inflammation and resolve the resulting pain. My favorite is pineapple, which contains bromelain and gives pineapple its anti-inflammatory properties. Instead of using anti-inflammatory drugs that are dangerous to my kidneys, I can get the same results eating real foods, and knowing what is in them.

What I am saying is research what you need, and you might find natural remedies for what ails you. Drugs of any kind, legal or otherwise, just aren't healthy.

The thorn in my side: my medical journey

2013-11-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

The content here was actually part of another post I was writing, but I decided to break it into two posts to separate the subjects a bit. This is more of a chronological list of recent events. Look to some of the links to my previous posts for the stories behind these things.

My medical history started back when I was 3 years old and I was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes Mellitius. My family on my father's side is predisposed to diabetes, and 2 of my 3 siblings have it as well. I had a great mother who taught me much about the disease, but my control was awful. Despite being a "brittle (labile) diabetic", I enjoyed exceptionally good health for a diabetic compared to my sister and brother. I started on a Diesetronic insulin pump in 1993 to try to control my blood glucose, but even 20 years later, my brittleness is a horror to my endocrinologist, Dr. Mandana Ahmadian.

During the summer of 2009, I had unusually excessive thirst, and I started having to urinate excessively. My doctors attributed it to my diabetes, since thirst is a common side effect of high blood sugars. However, my blood sugars had been relatively sane during that time. I did find that drinking Dr. Pepper quenched the thirst, but I still was getting hardly any sleep. Remember this paragraph; it will come into play later.

On November 15, 2009, I went to Evergreen Urgent Care after having severe headaches for almost a week. I was referred to the Evergreen Health ER, where they loaded me up with happy juice, did a CT scan, a spinal tap, and blood work. They diagnosed me with viral meningitis, gave me a bottle of Oxycontin, and sent me home with the information that it would resolve itself "in about 10 days."

A couple weeks later, I was back at the ER, where we went through the same procedures again. Same diagnosis, same treatment, except they gave me oxycodone because I had started hearing things that just weren't there. This was my first experience with the shift in healthcare to convincing people that nothing is wrong with them. For the record, Oxycontin's generic name is "oxycodone HCL." One in the same drug (I did not know that at the time). For the record, I began having sleep paralysis (seen in only 6% of the general population - remember this, it will come up again), extremely ugly nightmares, as well as seeing and hearing things while awake.

My wife took me back to the ER 5 times between 11/15 and 12/31/09 when she lost it with the ER doctor who insisted I still had meningitis. WARNING: do NOT peeve a Russian woman - she insisted on an MRI and she won the battle against "We have already done 3 CT scans. An MRI will not show anything different." They discovered I had pituitary apoplexy (like a tumor on the pituitary gland), and I discovered what having a great partner was. They told her I would have been dead within 2 weeks, from lack of hormones, had she not forced their hand. I was given prednisone, dilaudid, testosterone, and sent on my way.

Fortunately, I was referred to Swedish Neuroscience Institute in February 2010 for treatment. They did further testing and found that the tumor on my pituitary gland had bled out into my spinal fluid and dried up (rare), and that is what the ER had detected as meningitis. They also did testing and found I had Diabetes Insipidus (a "rare disease" - remember this, and the 6% having sleep paralysis), which is what caused my severe thirst and urination (told you it would come back up). When asked by my wife if I would ever regain function of my pituitary gland, the specialist said "99.9% chance no." (So 0.1% I would - remember this.)

Fast forward a year to May of 2011, and all of a sudden I was bloating up like a blueberry around my neck, back, and head. After seeing all my usual doctors, and visiting the ER a couple times, I was referred to an allergist who found nothing I was allergic to, but decided he should kill off my immune system because my body was "fighting itself for no reason." On that, I decided to get a 2nd opinion, and went to Dr. Garrison Ayars. He looked at all my records over a 2 week period (literally, all of them), and suggested that maybe one of the pituitary specialists I was seeing might consider that maybe they were over-treating me. 3% of the population is apparently ultra-sensitive to prednisone treatment... and even my 5mg dose (considered "nothing" by endocrinologists) was causing Cushing Syndrome. This also led to more testing by Dr. Ahmadian, and as of today, I produce enough cortisol for normal daily living, but not for stress (remember the 0.1% I mentioned above?) I have gone from taking 22 drugs to small doses of only 7.

Summer of 2012 came with headaches. Again, lots of doctors and nurse practitioners, and suggested "remedies" ranging from practicing yoga to reducing spinal fluid pressure. A year and a half later, and I have figured out that a rise in barometric pressure likely has something to do with it. Still looking into this one.

Recently, I have been struggling with a weight loss plateau, and myalgia caused by antibodies attacking good cells in my joints and muscles. That is a still unresolved story to be resolved.

I still have a variety of issues, but I am finding great solace in understanding the drugs I need to take, diets, GMOs, and chemical foods. But that is left for the next post. Let us leave it as the apostle Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 - "Thank you, God."

Lazy writers do not write

2013-11-08T17:58:00.002-08:00

What more can I say. With the help of the One up above, I was encouraged to dust off the blog and share some thoughts. Something that comes to mind every morning when I am in the shower is "Gee, I should be writing about that." But I quickly ignore that "thought." What happened this week is someone I am doing some investing with, and some business with, asked me for one of my stories. Ok, God, I get the hint.

My Mate: My Gift from God

2011-01-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

As a pastor, I often had young people question the Christian teaching of waiting for "the one" God had for them. Quite honestly, I can only infer this from scriptures such as Matt 7:7 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" and "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14).

I do not believe God has necessarily pre-picked a perfect mate for everyone on earth. But I believe God knows who is best for each person. When you leave things to God, He will bring the right person into your life at the right time, the relationship will be blessed, and a happy marriage will result. I myself did not fully understand this until I met my lovely wife.

Our story starts with my wife's mother sending her to Egypt to escape an abusive relationship, but God's hand was guiding us together long before that.

God's Hand #1: She was a young girl who attended Music School in the former Soviet union, and she was drawn to the "Italian-ness" of music. She loved the romance of Italian, and all things Italian. Her desire was to learn Italian, and grow up to be an Italian teacher. However, her monther could not find a teacher of Italian for her, and her mother opted for English, instead. The implications of this in the Soviet Union were that my wife would be destined for a life working for the KGB.

God's Hand #2 and #3: When she was old enough to attend University, she was immediately accepted into the "Transportation University" where she would become an engineer for the State run railway system. However, she took an entrance exam at the premier English teaching university in the region and was accepted there. This was exactly 1 year after the Soveit Union collapsed, and the last year that Ukraine paid for the education of university students from government funds. Had she not been accepted to this particular teaching university, nor had her tuition paid, we likely would have never met.

Back to Irina going to Egypt... She visited the site of the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, long a Russian Orthodox pilgrimage location for those seeking spiritual direction in relationships.

God's Hand #4: They have a ceremony at St. Catherine's where they hand out rings to visitors, which are symbolic of relational strength. As my wife's turn came up, they ran out of women's rings and they gave her a man's ring. At first offended, she then saw this as a sign of renewal of her life directly from God.

2 months after her trip to Egypt, she was at the university looking at a bulletin board where they post jobs. She was looking for a 3rd job to help support her and her daughter. She already worked full time as an English professor ($125/mo) and taught private students English ($50/wk), but she needed more income to afford to eat.

God's Hand #5: There were two flyers posted looking for English language interpreters. She decided she would check one of these jobs out. When she went to pull the little tab with the phone number off the posting, the one she wanted suddenly slipped down behind the glass and landed behind another posting on the board - well out of reach and view. So she ended up taking the number of the second flyer which led to her 3rd job as a interpreter for a position that served English speaking clients.

God's Hand #6: Exactly one month after she started her new job, guess who ended up on the other end of her interpreting? You guessed it...

When I spoke with "Diana", I flirted (hey - I'm Italian - I can't help it!) and she turned out to be an exceptionally well spoken, educated, and interesting person. I asked if we could speak again outside her work, and told her I wanted her phone number. She told me of the rules against giving out phone numbers (not to mention her fear of giving it out to some bozo from another country), but I persisted and she gave me a number... the wong number.

When I called at 5:30am my time the next morning (3:30pm hers - when she was "after class") the gruff male voice that answered hung up on me. Thinking I had misdialed, I called again. What I did understand of the conversation was "stupid American", and my heart sank. I did, of course, keep talking to "Diana", invited my good friend John M to talk with her, and got her warned by her employer not to give personal information to us and waste time on us.

God's hand #7: Exactly one month to the day after she started her job, at 4pm in the afternoon (2am her time) I was making an international phone call and misdialed the phone number. Guess who answered with a sleepy "allo?"

I did not know it was her at first. I asked "what are you doing?". The unknown woman replied in perfect, but sleepy, English: "sleeping". We continued to talk, with her thinking it was one of her students playing a joke on her and trying to figure out what student it was, and with me trying to figure out how this woman could sound so much like "Diana", but realizing the impossibility of it happening by chance.

As they say, the truth is stranger than fiction. We spoke for several hours, and within a week she decided it was worth spending time talking to me to improve her English. Within a month she had quit her interpreting job, I had plans to fly there to meet her, and shortly thereafter we married in Ukraine and here we are today.

Our relationship is filled with many other exciting signs of God's hand, which helped bring us together after that first series of events. There is the "gas incident" where, against my constant warning, she left the "cooker" (stove) light at night to heat the apartment. After she and our daughter fell asleep, the flames went out and the apartment filled with natural gas. A "hand" woke my wife and a voice told her to turn off the gas... but when she opened her eyes there was nobody there.

Then the "permission incident", the "passport incident", the "border patrol incident", and the "ticket purchase incident". These I will not discuss, due to family privacy, but they were clearly God's hand in our lives allowing us to come together. If you know me personally, ask - I'm always glad to share these stories, just not on the internet.

Till next time, I leave you with this:

"But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously." (Micah 6:8 The Message)

Alas, those darn Catholics (or Protestants)

2010-07-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to me when I hear the phrase "Christians are their own worst enemies."

We often have battles between denominations, and even label some as "cults". In my eyes, we need to couple the words of Matthew, "if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt 5:19a), with the words of James that "for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2:10).

If you do couple these two verses, you find that although what others believe does not always mesh with your beliefs, a) you are as guilty of sin as they are, and b) they'll still be in the Kingdom of Heaven. But for the Grace of God... I don't know about you, but least in the Kingdom is far better than not being in the Kingdom at all.

That said, I heard a comment today about how "Catholics are not Christians, because they do not know they can talk to God themselves", referring to the sacrament of Confession. They wanted to know why Catholics go to a priest for confession, when Protestants talk to God directly.

Well, simplifed answer is that it makes a person set aside time and focus on their sins. No magic involved. It is no more right than asking God forgiveness directly, it is just a means to an end. If you are disciplined enough to remember to talk to God about your sins, and ask His forgiveness, you will be forgiven. Yes, Catholics do trim it in tradition a bit... you need to go go confession to take communion... but hey, all religions practice traditions.

We could also talk about "Jesus on the cross" and "the empty cross" disagreements (one is a reminder that Jesus died for our sins, the other that he rose from the dead); "the golden trimmings" of the Catholic church" versus "the bare necessities" of the Protestants; "Sunday keepers" and "Sabbath keepers"; "tongues" and "no tongues"; "musical instruments in church" or "not in the church"; and everything in between.

No matter these, the only requirement for being a Christian is told in John 11:25:26 "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and he who lives and believes in me will never die" (See also: John 6:35, John 7:38, John 12:46).

Self Fulfilling Prophecies: Why do we even speak it?

2010-06-16T06:11:00.000-07:00

It is funny in a way. I always roll my eyes when Irina tells me "Don't say that! It will come true!". Her view is "don't let the devil hear you - only God knows what you think." When I look at it, however, her words are often full of more wisdom than I give her credit for.

In my sole post in May, I talked about "No Time for God". And here I am over a month later, visiting my blog to write about some of the things God has used as teaching tools in my life.

So, what is a self fulfilling prophecy? Mirriam Webster says it is "becoming real or true by virtue of having been predicted, or expected." For example, we wake up and say "today is going to be a lousy day", and we unconciously alter our actions during the day to make that come true. It is a pschological thing in our human nature.

Self fulfilling prophecy is a concept "discovered" by Robert K. Merton to explain how a belief or expectation, correct or not, affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person or group will behave. He defined that it is how we look at a situation that defines the outcome - good or bad. If we get up late in the morning and miss our bus to work, we can say "this is going to be a lousy day" and it likely will be, due to our actions. Or, we would look at the fact that our friend gave us a ride, which opened up the opportunity for a conversation, which made for a good day.

We, as humans, often give God credit for our own doings, and what happens to us in life. This is more often just us living a sinful life. Thankfully God uses these situations to teach us.

What? You want a biblical example? (Yes, I know - this IS a God oriented blog, after all.)

Ok, how about Moses and the Israelites as they headed off to the promised land? Their complaining in the wilderness (Exodus 15:23-24, Exodus 16:2-3, Exodus 17:1-3, Numbers 11:4-6) set up the attitude that failure was imminent, they would die at any moment, and they would have been better if Moses left them in bondage.

God often granted them their desires with warning to quit grumpbling and trust in Him (Exodus 15:26, Exodus 16:20). In his wrath he would sometimes give them exactly what they self-professed (Numbers 11:31-35). The result? It took them 40 years to make that short journey, all because their attitudes caused them to not trust in God.

Hence, be careful how you look at your situation.

Which leads me to the next big thing on my mind - walking in darkness, and the many things to be learned from what we think, see, and do when we are in the "valley of the shadow of death". It is all I will say on the topic at the moment. But expect more soon.

No time for God

2010-05-13T07:01:00.001-07:00

As I notice that a month has passed without actually updating my blog with the many thoughts of God that flow through my head, I realized that this is something most people do. The things of the world take higher precedence than our creator. Why is that?

Granted, God doesn't know what pressures we have on a daily basis. Nor does He understand the time pressures we are under. And I am sure he doesn't understand that it takes time to keep up with what all my friends on Facebook are doing, nor how important getting a 9 year old to dance lessons is...

I really think this is what we often think about God. We neglect to think of the fact that He always has time for us, and He knows all our struggles. When we are too busy, too stressed, or too overburdened with troubles, God simply asks us to call out to him and He will listen and deliver us (Psalm 34:15-17). Our rest is in Him (Matthew 11:28) - all we have to do is put ourselves in Jesus' care, and our burdens will be lifted.

Does that mean all our troubles will go away, and our time issues disappear? Not at all. It simply means that we get a chance to stop and get guidance from the creator of the universerse. We get time to hear the Holy Spirit, and time to focus on what is truly urgent in life.

This is also the meaning behind "On the seventh day he rested", and "Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy". We need time to rest and focus our lives. Time to be with Jesus. Time to heal. Many Christians will say those quotes refer to the "Sabbath Day", and that the Sabbath was only for the Jewish. Although modern Christians do celebrate God on other days, the principle behind it still applies... take time to rest, focus on God, and He will help you focus your life.

Take a moment and be with Him today.

Listen and Follow

2010-04-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

Funny how God works when He wants to get our attention.

I was talking to Katie Driver, one of my spiritual mentors, the other day. I groused about how I felt that I was not following the path that Jesus wanted me on. I have had this feeling on and off since I left the pulpit 6 years ago, but the feeling has grown much stronger since I spent so much time in the hospital with plenty of time to talk with Jesus about life. That period gave me plenty of time to re-learn how to listen to God speak, and wait on Him, rather than simply speaking to Him. (And it seems that these days He speaks to me so often I cannot find time to blog about it all).

I kept thinking God may be prompting me to start a home church, as Irina and I have different comfort levels with churches. Her roots in the Russian Orthodox church lend to her comfort in conservative worship, while my past interfaith work has tended to lead me to a more contemporary worship style. I have had many "signs" such as the rekindling of my spiritual relationshp with Katie Driver (she is an amazing conduit for church planting).

This thought came up again last night, on the eve of Easter, as Irina and I were discussing why God came to earth in the form of man. Irina is well grounded in biblical studies, but she is accustomed to her church telling her how to be spiritual. Despite being a lousy teacher, I have a gift in my ability to relate the Word to current situations for people and give them things to think about and take in on their own. Our discussion eventually came to relationships, and how the "pre-Jesus" church reflected what she was used to, and how Jesus was all about relationships. (Here is a good blog entry on Christian relationships being like 3-legged races.)

I went to bed thinking "maybe I will start a Sunday morning family study, and invite anyone who wants to come."

I did start the morning with a link from Ulysses Potter on Keith Green's Easter song. Keith talks about relationships with Jesus, and not hiding our walk with Him from the world. I especially liked the part about "why are they asking questions during the service, with their eyes closed?"

Ira and I then went to church at St. Brendan's Parish in Bothell today, for the Easter service. We are members of St. Louise in Bellevue, but since our daughter is enrolled in the St. Brendan Parish School, we wanted to "check it out", as Bothell is much closer to us, and we have a bit of discomfort at St. Louise. I really did not feel well this morning, but I really felt a need to go today.

I can say that we felt at home there, and Father Jim Northrop's homily was deep reaching in my soul. I had an "episode" during the service, and we had to leave early - but I will leave that story and my hopes about the meaning for another day.

After we came home, I visited Father Jim's personal website, and found a short entry where he said "We need bishops, priests, and lay leaders who are dedicated to the Gospel and not ashamed of it."

All this was confirmation to me that I should be more proactive in using my gifts and knowledge of the Word more effectively for Jesus. However, I have readjusted my thoughts on the home church, and will still consider the family study (open to anyone who's interested). I will also keep Katie's words to me in mind - that we sometimes need to stop to replenish our spiritual fuel, despite the fact we want to get to the destination quickly.

We will see what happens. In the meantime, I will keep this blog blog entry on "Ragamuffin Prayers" that I came across today in mind, while I search for the path God wants me to follow.

I go in the name of Jesus, till next time.

Христос Воскiрес! Musings for Easter

2010-04-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

Христос Воскiрес! Христос Воскiрес! (Khrystos Voskres - Chris is Risen).

This is the greeting you will get the entire week of Easter in Ukraine, and the response you hear is Воiстину Воскрес! (Voistynu Voskres! Indeed, He is risen!). This will be followed by 3 kisses to the cheeks, one each for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You will actually hear these greetings all over the East on Easter (the week, not the day). So why is it that we Americans call ourselves a Christian nation, and you never see such a thing outside a church?

As I had a discussion last night with my wife about why Jesus did the things he did, or didn't do other things, while on the earth, it kept coming to mind that I have seen more solid Christianity in Eastern Europe than in the good ol' USA. This from nations where people grew up not being allowed to celebrate their spirituality. It amazes me how well grounded my wife is in biblical matters, coming from a nation where such things were forbidden by law. It makes me think back to how strong the Church was in the "old" underground days, and how we might expect things to be before Christ returns to this earth again.

Ok, off the soapbox... and finishing up on this fine Easter day with a few lighter items before heading off to Church.

The other day I was chasing a purchase order around the company. It was misassigned to wrong division managers, prodcut managers, etc. all over the company. The couple times it ended up in my division, it quickly disappeared. Then a kindly Hispanic admin of the name Jesus stepped in and assured me he would resolve it.

As I was out and about, I read his email on my phone indicating he had fixed the problem. I copied him with a simple "Thank you, Jesus". A few moments later I spit Dr. Pepper all over my windshield as I saw a response from my administrator - "For a moment, I thought you were thanking God for fixing such a horrible issue."

Maybe I was...

And the prayer request for this week: I am waiting to hear from the doctors about recovery of my pituitary gland. What a wonderful miracle that would be on Easter week.

Thou shalt not...

2010-02-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

In my years visiting pulpits of different churches, I usually found that what I so carefully planned to speak on was overridden at the last minute by God. As such, I often had to "wing it". I find writing this blog is no different. This week I was in the process of writing a blog about Ava Denton as an example of how God puts certain people in our lives for specific reasons.

As I wrote about Ava, God kept reminding me of a sermon by Father Phil Wallace at St. Louise Parish on the first day of Lent. Father Phil asked "what things do you have before you?" (Exodus 20:3-5a). I wasn't sure why God kept speaking to me about this, when I already planned the perfect blog on how people are put into our lives.

While I was thinking about the ending of my post, I started thinking about how I look forward to seeing Ava in 2 weeks when she delivers delicious grass fed organic beef to the Seattle area. I thought about going to visit Ava on vacation this spring, letting my wife and daughter experience a life I used to live (raising cattle) and to finish Ava's untextured walls (which bother me more than her). I thought about riding horses, fixing fences, and branding young cows, the fresh milk and butter, and bailing hay.

What I realized was that Father Phil's words rang true - we all put things in our life ahead of Him, and we tend to covet what our neighbors have (Exodus 20:17). I covet Ava's pony, her unfinished walls, and her cows. I want the simple (but hard) life she works, the fresh air, the space to grow a garden. I don't want her smelly dog (I have my own smelly dog). Basically, I want her lifestyle - which means I covet what she has.

So what do we do when we "covet" (eagerly wish for) what others have? The same thing we do with all sins. We need to recognize our sins, lay them before the Lord (James 5:16), and He will forgive us (Mark 3:28). The key is to recognize we all sin, and realize we are not slaves to that sin in Jesus - and strive for righteousness (Romans 6:1-3).

Through this process we find restoratoin in our relationship with God. After all, Jesus likes relationships - He's a romantic.

Jesus: The Romantic

2010-02-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Exactly 4 years ago today, the good Lord introduced me to my wife.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been struggling with composing the perfect blog entry for today, honoring my wife and glorifying God. I have pondered a long timeline from when she was a youngster and her mother (a powerful and well connected communist leader) could not find an Italian language teacher and opted for English instead, all the way to the night that a phone call to one person was errantly routed to a sleepy English professor in Ukraine at 2am her time.

I have recalled the job posting she wanted to respond to that suddenly blew away, leaving her only one other posting that ultimately led to a job that set the stage for our errant phone call, and the numerous times He has shown His hand and intervened to ensure our being together afterwards.

I struggled with not knowing how to pull all these situations together into a cohesive story of how God intervenes in our lives to bring people together, until Jesus showed up on this 4th anniversary of His introduction of two people He meant for each other.

We went out for a wonderful anniversary dinner last night, since our daughter was gone for the evening. When we returned home, I placed an order for a few items from AmazonFresh for delivery in the wee hours before we woke, and then we retired for the night. At 5:30am I found our order sitting on our porch where it belonged. But wait... there was an unusually light bin for what I ordered. Upon opening it, what did I find?

A beautiful bouquet of flowers, and a single deep red rose.

Despite knowing what happened, I checked with AmazonFresh. They had no reports of missing orders, no record of a missing delivery bin, and no record of any flower orders into our area for the day.

We knew the simple truth from our experiences... Jesus is simply a romantic.

And they shall become one flesh

2010-02-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

One of the things that God brought to my mind while I was hospitalized was Genesis 2:24. He gave me a new understanding of "becoming one flesh".

What does being "one flesh" mean? Basically it means that a man and woman that God puts together are meant to live in union with each other. They should live in harmony, intimacy, and support of one another. Now I don't know how well I do that, but my wife has that down pat (yes, I am boasting about what a lucky guy I am).

During the times I was hospitalized, my wife was beside me at all possible times. Although we had a considerable amount of company at our home each and every time, she got up and went to work, stopped by the house for a quick bite to eat, shopped, cooked, and then proceeded to the hospital. Even though I was a) drugged on narcotics and sleeping, or b) not the most pleasant person in the world, she was there each day until she couldn't stay awake anymore. Only then would she return home to sleep, and prepare to do it all over again.

Even when I was home between hospital stays, she went beyond what most people ever endure. There were times I passed out and she lugged my 200+ pound body back to bed (or to the hospital), times I made a mess (all over me and/or the house), and when I was awake she listend to my complaining and whining.

She stood so firmly beside me, strong and brave, until the ordeal was over and I was finally diagnosed. It was only at that time she gave in to her fears of being left alone in a strange country. She exemplified being reverent, self controlled, busy and loving of her family (Titus 2:3-5).

God left no doubt in my mind that she is my lifemate, that I am lucky, and that I recieve favor from my Lord Jesus as a result (Proverbs 18:22).

Does Denomination Matter?

2010-01-31T17:43:00.000-08:00

I have to address this before we get too far down the road. People often ask things such as "what denomination are you?" or "are you equally yoked?". My denomination is Christian. My wife's denomination is Chrisitan. Yes, we are equally yoked.

In the early church, there was no denomination. Christians were Christians. If you look at the splits in Christian organizations, from the very first one, they have all been over a disagreement on interpretation of scripture. Every spit in a church rests on interpretation of scripture. Every belief in Christian faith that disagrees with another, hinges on interpretation of scripture.

What we as Christians need to remember is that all those that call on the name of Christ are Christians (Acts 2:21).

I have often heard protestants say "our cross is empty, because we know Jesus was raised from the dead. Look at the Catholics, their Jesus is still dead". But if you understand the beliefs of the Catholics, you will understand that Jesus is on the Catholic cross as a rememberance that Jesus died for our sins. Some churches believe in being vegetarians, some believe in Saturday Sabbath, some believe in dressing up for Church, some believe in "come as you are". Is one church "The" church, with "The" correct beliefs?

I hate to say it, but "no", there is no "perfect" Church or Denomination (1 Corinthians 1:11-13).

People have different personalities and relate to things differently. People have a natural need to "be right". People have a natural need to point out other's faults while ignoring their own. All I can do is point to Romans 15:5 and encourage people to look past their Christian beliefs and try to understand the beliefs of other Christian faiths. In this, you can see how we are the same.

If you disagree with my views, so be it. I will hang onto Matthew 5:19 and Matthew 11:11. I'll hang out with John the Baptist and the other "leasts".

Watching the signs

2010-01-29T16:41:00.001-08:00

When I started this blog, I debated if I would run out of things to say. But God, in all his wonder, continues to teach daily to those who are willing. Today, I want to relate my wife's view of God's hand, in "watching the signs".

She went to work at 9:30am this morning. Upon arriving, she saw one of those miniature bottles of hand lotion, and recognized it as the ones that the Evergreen Hospital uses. The first thing that went through her mind was "Kevin has a doctors appointment today, he's not in the hospital". She then left the break room, and went up to the office. They asked her to go to the bank with the deposits from yesterday, and she thought it was odd that they were sending her almost 1 hour and 15 minutes early. But she took her purse from the locker, the deposits, and off she went.

Strangely enough, it was just at that time that the Woodinville EMT was loading me into the Emergency Response Vehicle. I had had my blood pressure drop out, and not only had I just sent her an SMS, but the EMT called her phone.

In Irina's eyes, she sees that God not only prepared her for the trip to the ER, but he also orchestrated the early trip to the bank. Had she not gone to the bank at that moment, her purse would have sat in her locker for another hour or two, and I would have been long and deep into the hospital ER (where there is no cellular service) by the time she found out. Did I mention that my SMS was too cryptic for her to know what was going on, had she not been able to call at that time?

Sitting in the ER, she related this story to me. As she noted, many people chalk such things up to "coincidence". However, such coincidences can only be orchestrated by a wise and loving creator.

As my wife does, think about the coincidence next time, and see if you can find the signs God gave you beforehand.

God's Lessons

2010-01-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

mus·ing (my z ng) adj. Deep in thought; contemplative. n. 1. Contemplation; meditation. 2. A product of contemplation; a thought. (www.thefreedictionary.com/musing).

This definition fits the state I have been in for the past 3 months, in regards to my life and God's hand in it. I visited the hospital 5 times in this period, with varying diagnoses, until the doctors found a tumor on my pituitary gland. This has given me great opportunity to review my life, and see things in a different light.

I do not believe God "blessed me" with a tumor to teach me a lesson. This is a belief that many Christians take when something unexpected happens in their life. What we need to remember is that life happens to us because Adam and Eve disobeyed. However, Romans 8:28-29 tells us that all things work for good when God is involved.

This is how I view my situation: I got a tumor because I am human. It was "luck of the draw". God made no grand plans to give me a tumor. But because I was willing to involve Him in the situation, He is using it to teach me many valuable lessons on a daily basis.

I will share my reflections here as time goes on. Some of these lessons are small, some large. But they are all things that I would not have otherwise taken the time to see. For His willingness to teach, I give thanks to Him. 1 Thess 5:18.