The Journey We All Follow

  

  I feel it is now a good time to talk about the journey of The Journey. For the very name expresses something quite significant to me. Every true follower of Jesus has a tale to tell so I give you mine in brief. 

  I grew up Catholic and quickly got disenchanted with the God that church presented. I wanted something more personal, more real than this Zeus sort of character with lightning I heard of Sunday after Sunday. 

  I then did what every self loving post modernist does and looked for any answer that didn't come up with the sum of Jesus and the Judaic god. I studied and practiced every major religion and a good deal of occultism to boot. I finally after a good deal of kicking and screaming found myself to my great surprise darkening the threshold of a church once more.                        

  The reason I tell this sorted tale is to let you know of my own journey. A good deal admittedly has been omitted only due to my wanting to keep these brief. Even now I admit readily to being no good man nor follower of Jesus for that matter. We all after all are on our own path the redemption. If we now believe in Jesus or not we all have a path that will lead to the same judgment seat at the end. A tale will be told for all to hear as to what we chose after all. 

 The Journey is really nothing more than the struggle we have in accepting we in fact are not God and do not have the answers. It is the crushing blow that we will all face one day that no matter who we think we are, we are just not all powerful. Pride has met its match and life will most likely be the adversary that shows you such sobriety. 

  With the journey's definition firmly in mind we must all then have to admit that we have no choice in the matter or our participation. We do it if we like to or not. Life is inevitably a conveyor belt that moves at a steady pace right to the last breathe. The question is then why is this existence here then in the first place? Is it God's evil plan to mess with a sub-ordinant creation? A bet between God and Lucifer as to who is the king of the hill? Or maybe God like the deists believe humanity was created just to fight it out amoungst themselves. A very Darwinian system if I do say so myself.   

   I prepose that the Journey is the weeding out of those who just do not want to follow the creator. If you want to be a hedonist here fine. You had your fun, now your done. For the rest that have denied themselves in this life there is eternity to feast and be merry. For those that seem to think this to be a good deal far fetched. Let me provide you with this illustration do digest. 

  Yesterday we watched a quite eye opening YouTube video of a man in Holland that asked 200 women quite plainly if hey wanted to have sex with him. If they said yes he immediately took them up to his flat and commenced the deal. If however they denied him he strengthened his resolved and continued on looking for those who would. Most women as you would expect denied him and asked him if he had thought them to be a whore. The take home from this is that no matter what your belief, race, nor origin no one wants to be used and thrown away. Nothing more than the resource for someone elses enjoyment. 

  As we are formed in the image of God do you expect him to be waiting for you in the red light district? Or does he in fact have more dignity and class than such frivolity? I am sure you could figure that out plainly enough no matter where you are in your journey. No God would place themselves at such a level right? They are God after all. Why sink to such a level and they leave with no respect. 

  Our journey friends is whatever it becomes, however it is always what we chose. God has given us that power. For what it is the devil had it right we can become like God. We have the will to chose to become sinners or saints. We write the tale. Now is yours going to be a romantic comedy, an action thriller or a tragedy? I can not tell you, you are the author of the book. Happy writing. 

What Color is Your Parachute?

    It is amazing to think that a book under this title can sell so well year after year however we Christians do not consider such things. I just got done hearing the account of a man that took action and organized a protest against the black mass that occurred in Oklahoma not long ago.  What he found to his admitted dismay that with the some 1200 or so churches in the 1 million strong city of Oklahoma that most churches never had the resolve to stand in public against a blatant act of blasphemy. It is to no surprise to me that it was the Catholics that were the force to be reckoned with.   I know that this last statement may be something quite strange for those that know me as the ex-catholic that I am however I am happy to explain why my answer stands as it does. You see I indeed grow up as a Catholic and saw the great hypocrisy that is that church group. To be fair I would say that any organization has the 90% of lukewarm benchwarmers. The real difference I have found is that the Catholics have a tremendous assembly of quite devoted elderly that live and breathe the religion. I am alive today no doubt to the dedicated endless hours of prayer and rosary reciting of these secretive saints of the kingdom. I do not see this to be the case at all with even the most zealous of the protestants I have encountered, myself included.   I only take this side road to mention that Christianity in effect is quite an illusive sort of animal. I have said for years that I am certain of only one thing and that is that we will be quite surprised who God calls sheep at the end trial. I am doing whatever I can to not snow blow myself in delusion on the matter.   Christianity has been said to be a verb. It is something that you stick you neck out to preform. It is faith that has to cost you everything you are or it is just not being preformed. Human by nature wants to follow his own will and way. Christian's give up their will to obey the will of a master. We are willing subjects to another.   I titled this article what I did because I had a vision of Christians jumping off and pulling their own parachute to brace the fall. So what color is yours? Are you willing to even jump into a life of faith or not? If God told you to do something that cost you anything would you do it? Is your parachute colored yellow stating that you are just plain chicken to stand and represent something that you admit with your lips you are risking your eternity on?  Is your parachute black? Signifying those that go to church undercover. You know those who use their presence as a church goer as a cover up for the sins that they commit in another private life? Is your parachute rainbow colored representing those who go to the country club media rich mega churches that you use as a status symbol? Or is your parachute like those who attended this event full of holes and in need of faith alone to full the gap that will save their life?  Frankly this question is easy to come to. You merely need to look at your life and assess if it requires the need for God to do something to make it work. A life that if pending the orders from its superior. An existence that has no you in it at all. Because in fact you do not care about the condition of your parachute. Not what it looks like or its usability. You are focused on the instructor that is teaching you how to live in spite of a dangerous jump that could cost you your life. Think about it and repent. God wants jumpers not people that stand on the ledge. Nor those who bring attention to their jump so all can see how wonderful they are. What else can be said. Be doers of the way, not hearers only. 

Where the body goes so does the mind and soul

 For what it is worth I think the enemy get to much acclaim. I mean is he really this big bad guy causing havoc in every Christian's life? Doesn't he have anything better to do then mess with a low life like me? I mean I am not exactly on the hierarchy radar of God's holy men I am certain of that.

  What I did realize on my illustrious drive into work this morning is that I am not sure if he really needs to do anything to just one person. The answer you see if much easier for a being as crafty as he is touted to be. Why bother with whispering in every Christians ear or enlisting some hotty to walk by and tantalize you. I submit that there is a better way to cause the needed distraction and there is a hidden benefit to this plan. You do not link the perpetrator to the crime... perfect. 

  A friend of mine had a good deal of struggles that I will not get into here however his group therapist had stated something that I have found to be true in my life as well. This axiom goes something like this. If you are tired, hungry, sick or stressed you are the peak vulnerability for your addiction to take you out. So I say that if the enemy can make one of these physical ailments strike your house he can take out the whole lot and be out under the cloak of obscurity. 

  I know that when you think about this concept for long enough it rings true and turns on that light bulb above your head. If you are anything like me the film reel starts to immediately play for at least 20 different clips of you being a total ass when you were not feeling well to any one of those you have told prior that you cared about. You can see how the linking works quickly enough now I am sure. How you are feeling in your body takes the mind and soul in tow. 

  So what then can we do about this. Well as always knowledge is power. If we know we are not feeling well do the first rule of life. Do no harm. Get yourself away from those you may very well lash out on. If this is not possible at least warn them that you are growing horns and they should stand cautious for charging bulls. The last thing I know should be the first however I would love no now enter in reality to the mix. We need to pray.   When I start a sinning it starts a flushing sound in my life that starts a cascade of self loathing and ridicule. We need to understand that when we are weak and stumbling we need to reach out to God not lash ourselves into a better way of handling things. If we indeed knew how to do this we wouldn't need a God to help us now would we? 

  As I try to keep these short I will just sum this up with something simple. Don't be stupid. Don't allow the devil to use his tricks to have you go on some rampage just so that you can feel terrible that you hurt those you love. When you feel terrible and you are struggling cry out to God and he promises he will help. Simple as that.  

Oh Generation of Woe...

The generation of the do nothing get everything creates the whirlwind that is the problem

to the problems they have. their in effort bogs down the entire system into something that 

can not ever be effective due to the fact that the trouble that they cause makes everything 

harder to accomplish. It forces the system to then calibrate to their dysfunction and creates

the choke hold in the flow of effort. 

O contentment, contentment! Wherefore art thou contentment?

 As our days go by we may very well find ourselves sinking and not even know of it. The world is now fallen and all those who inhabit it are infected with its nature. This sin nature is nothing we can cure. We just have to do what we can to minimize its effect on out daily lives. 

  As Christians we are called to be " in the world and not of the world." Now what does that mean exactly then? I say this, it has everything to do with your level of contentment you allow yourself to be in. You heard that right contentment is a choice we have to make. Jesus tells us plainly after all that all we need to focus on God all all the rest will be added on to us. What we need is his business. The boss says so. 

  So do what your management says to do and spend your time on being an ambassador of Christ and find a way to be ok with that. Ya I know easier said than done right?  Indeed, indeed indeed I need to be peaching to myself as well. As Americans we just need to come to grips with it. We are fat, lazy and unmotivated. This is only topped neatly with the cherry of never having enough. This however is not the path to Christ at all. 

  In the interest of brevity I will just point you to how Jesus lived. You know the guy closest to God ever? The had no home, no money and did just fine making it by. Maybe we can try to follow who we should be modeling a bit better now. Let's try it together!

Eeyore, the cross and fog

   I have always said "there is power in knowing who you are." What if that someone is something you do not much care for? You may find yourself today at the same briar patch that I have found myself in time and time again. Apparently nor realizing that I am walking in a circle through life. Always thinking "this time I am not going to end up at that blasted place"  just to find yourself staring right at inevitability. 

  The self that I find in the mirror is no different than the character of Eeyore from the children's series Winnie the Poo. I sulk around life convinced that some ill is just about to fall me and even if it doesn't.. well shucks I have lost my tail anyhow. Nothing I can seem to do to knock myself out of the funk ever seems to have any staying power. For what it is I am an Eeyore sore of bloke. 

  The question I had as I was yet again at the place of realization this morning is how do we handle this as a follower of Christ? I have been like this as long as I have known me so did God create me like this? Was it nature that made this sullen failure seeker? Why am I destined to at least perceive everything as attacking me and causing me misery? Will my entire life be like this, a constant victim to someone's cruel game?

  To be honest I am not to sure I have the answer for this. However I wanted to point out a couple things that came to mind as I was listening to a sermon on the way to work today. First let us explore the great commission that Jesus left for us. He commands us to all go out and increase the followers of Christ. This by its very wording doesn't exclude anyone. No matter what personality type of dysfunction you have you are to go. I would also have to note that the cross instead of being this heavy barge of tree seems to be lighter than the one I have convinced myself I am carrying. We are suppose to be at rest and peace when we are following God. 

  Now for those astute students out there I am sure you have already took note of the fact that I may very well be carrying a cross in my own power and not God's. I would most likely have to agree. The sort of person I seem to be loves suffering. With out this occurring what on Earth do we have the grounds to complain about after all right? Alas we can now finish up with the last component fog. 

  Anyone that has lived in this vile stuff knows the evil that it causes. You loose all ability to figure out where you are and when you use light to bring clarity it just makes everything a good deal worse. The question we must then ask ourselves is who exactly is creating this woe. We would love to blame the big red guy however is this truly the case? I submit that we often create a smokescreen ourselves to ensure our demise. 

  There would be a million reasons as to why we would be our worst enemy however I just wanted to investigate a couple of these. One possibility is that we actually desire the distraction. After all following God's will is not good for our sinful nature that we love to feed. The other is that we love the drama. As I mentioned if we do not have an enemy to fight and a reason to complain what it the reason that we are not following Jesus. 

  My challenge to you today is to get real with yourself. No matter if you are an Eeyore like me or not and lift the clouds that you may very well have created to confuse matters. Look at your life squarely and ask yourself if you are truly following Jesus. Are you fighting to ensure that you are doing your part of this relationship to be a spotless bride for the coming king? If not why not? I know I got some repenting to do. It you don't clear the fog and try again. 

The Problem with Now

  There is a creeping vine that captivates, woes and binds those of us on the great journey of life. This enemy has a great allure to humanity. It is the power of now that does us in. 

 Now doesn't seem like all that bad of a word does it? We all love love this fast paced life of convenience, ease and efficiency right? The problem you see if that this walks hand in hand with selfishness. I know if you are anything like me this is most likely your biggest what I call "mountain." It is what you really wrestle with daily in your Christian walk. 

  Yesterday we talked a little about this issue in another light, however as I am sure you can now tell this is all linked together. The path truly does come to a y in the road. We can either do what we want to do or we do what our boss says. By definition if we call ourselves Christian we are suppose to be picking up our cross and following him. The lack of obedience is nothing more than us living like any other heathen out there. Point blank. 

  The problem then becomes that we want what we want to the exclusion of God's will. This I am sure you will pinpoint as not a new issue with humanity. The real issue I wanted to point out on the problem that is now is that the apple was good to eat. 

  We would have no issue with selfishness, the bible calls this sin by the way, if it didn't tickle something in us that trigger pleasure. If sin was painful we would avoid it. We want to have all the pleasure we can handle and that is the true nature of the battle that wages within us. 

  Here is the issue friends. I am sorry to the the one to advise us all of this. The road to God is a hard treacherous road that sucks. I know I know you got sold another plan by someone else. I am truly sorry that you were misinformed. Let me then give you the truth of the matter.

  When you choose Christ you immediately have an enemy. This is not the horned guy in red. No indeed this one has teeth and roams the world seeking whom to devour. That my friends is unfortunately you.  If you think logically about it sobriety comes in clear. He has no need to bother with those that are distracted into their own life of hedonism does he? Nope, he need to get those truly pursuing Jesus off that path, send forces to stop advancement and make sure that that person doesn't get anyone else woken up and brought to salvation. 

  We all then need to realize what is truly going on here. Now is nothing but temptation that we need to resist so the enemy will flee. We need to rest in Jesus to do what he said he was going to do. Our responsibility is to focus on him and what he needs us to do and we trust that he will take care of everything else. Let's try to meditate on how we are trying to take control of our lives by eating the fruit of now and start trusting the tree that gives us freedom, Jesus. 

The Purpose of a Purpose

  A good portion of my life I have been trying to figure out what exactly is my "purpose in life." It is a good deal like the quest for the holy grail. Everyone has sought it out however no one even knows if the blasted thing even exists. For me this very subject pangs at the deepest part of my being. The part that defines who I am. As a Christian I know I am a new person in Christ upon salvation however I still can't seem to stop pursuing this answer. 

   Why is it that we need to know who we are and what we are made to do? This was exactly the question I found myself asking yesterday that seemed to bring a torrent of other questions springing forth. The funny thing is that for the years I have been trying to figure out this puzzle I never did ask myself why it was that I needed to quest for this goofy answer anyhow. 

  When you consider this a tad more the real issue begins to surface and it stares straight into the core of our humanity, What it is we are really wrestling with is our need to enforce something apart from our creator. "I am this person so I will do what I want to do" is what we are saying. We then need to ponder this as a follower of Christ and ask the question that brings sobriety in a startling way. How is it that Jesus walked in the flesh and gave his entire life and will to God and we are unwilling to follow this path? Ah hah now we really can see this for what it is.. selfishness. 

  With this new found revelation we can go to the original topic that we momentarily swayed from purpose. The newly fashioned definition of this word for the post modern society is will. So as followers is it our will we need to figure out or are we dependent on getting our directions step by step from a supreme leader? We only need to know the next step if we are to try to control it or somehow figure out if we are going to obey it prior to stepping. 

  To end this quest we must then end our wanting to do whatever it is that we want to do in this existence. We do not need an esteem because we are weld in honor by a creator. No need for a will due to the fact that we merely follow orders from our boss above. Alas just like other posts the trick is not knowing the problem it is working out how exactly we are going to comply as giant sin bags. Good luck and may God assist you in your journey. 

Learning, tripping and other monsters that go bump in the night...

 This phone issue has just made me realize that outcomes are just not always what they appear. Here I am thinking that a new phone on the newest operating system would be a better thing only to see nothing but limitations in the practical working of such a device. A snicker could just roll out of my mouth on the matter if I could just get passed the tears of losing a truly great phone in the process. 

  I think what I did learn today is that what you think you want is often fueled by sin. Sometimes you just have to face the facts to find freedom. So there I am happy with a phone I "had to get out of" earlier and now at a later point of my life happy to have it again. What we now need to look at is how this sort of thing can occur. Hold on though the answer may surprise you. 

  How is it then can we love something that we use to be unhappy with? The answer is something you already know all to well.. perspective. You see we view everything through our own uniquely tinted pair of rose colored glasses. They are all individually stylized by the summation of our past experiences. So our reality for what it is worth is truly just ours. 

  So with this knowledge we can then pull into focus all this story. We are just simply not the people we once were. Since we look at the world differently today than we do yesterday we can see how looking at exactly the same thing and find new found wisdom in it. I does seem then that time does bring wisdom to those who take the time to wonder. 

  I know for what it is worth the older I get in this journey the more sure I am that I have no idea what is going on and how far I have to go to attain whatever wisdom I can possibly gleam from this existence. Yes I know, I know I just said that time changes your perspective, however we are talking about wisdom here. You know the ability to actually learn and alter behavior based on past circumstances. Now my friends we are talking about a whole other game. This is where you either succeed or fail the test that is life. 

 For me this seems to be the real core of the issue. I go through the world asking for the Lord to make life have "few doors and a marrow path" however I am not to sure I am actually learning anything. Yes I am enduring however I do not think I am succeeding.  Any one else out there know where I am coming from? It is like that scripture in James. I am a man that looks in the mirror and forgets what I look like. I go through all these tests and trials and still end up the same as yesterday. 

  How is it then that we actually make some progress? Well to tell you the truth I am not sure I know the answer to this one. I would be lying if I did. After all this whole "journey" thing is about honesty isn't it? Here however is some things I have observed from my own failure in the matter and I hope it helps you out as well. 

  You need to remember who you are and who you are not. Now this may seem something that is apparent however I do think we have a tendency to blow smoke at ourselves to hide things. So let us look at one failure I have to help us illustrate the matter further. I appear to be a very driven motivated and confident individual. Most of the time I even stump myself with my own arrogance as a walk on by. The truth of the matter is easily seen if you watch me for long enough. All this positioning, posturing and busy work actually doesn't ever really produce anything. It is like the business man that needs to have his office "just so" before he can possibly do any work. I my friends fall squarely into this category.

  When it comes down to it I am simply just afraid. yup it is just that. Now that we can now look at the monster let us all pick up our sword and take the quest to learn and change. Forward march! 

Life as an externalist

So I was listening to Glenn Beck today and realized what exactly my issue is. I am a materialist or better yet an externalist. This fact is quite hard to pinpoint if you were to know me. I am one that has little, wants little and asks for even less. 

  So how can this possibly be you may inquire? Well the fact is actually pretty simple however so illusive that I couldn't even see it to clearly. Today however seemed to gleam some much needed sunlight into the dark world that is my soul. The true meaning of my sadness is exposed under such wisdom. So here I pen the issue upon all issues.

  What I have found is that I am a direct reflection of my external environment. I am happy when things are going well and sad when they are not. Happy when I am getting what I want and depressed when all is not how I think it should be. A puppet in every sense of the word. So what is the problem with this sort of system? Well I would gather this is a dead end road no matter what your moral system. 

  

Welcome.. welcome.. welcome.

Welcome every to The Journey. This is nothing more than a man attempting to get to Heaven however he can. I am not a good man nor a good Christian. This will be as raw and distilled as I can manage it. So follow me if you like through my Journey and feel free to share with me yours and maybe we can all grow.

May God walk with you all the days of your life,

Rob