My Journey for Greatness: Intro

As I'm just beginning to document this journey, I must limit it to this day's thoughts for the sake of obvious logistics. Well, my goodness, this could appear to be an infinite subject, especially if one believes in living forever which I do. Let me qualify the living forever by saying that eternal living after this earthly life would be in the spiritual realm.

So, the current focus on my journey began with a book called "The Magic" by Rhonda Byrne. You might be familiar with her other best seller called "The Secret". One of my wonderfully made friends, Ginny Hawk was reading this book. I was wanting a good book and self-improvement is one of my favorite subjects, so I followed Ginny's lead and bought the book.

This book has as its subject the ability of gratitude to change your life by attracting the good to you that you are focusing your gratitude on. As I began to read, I was reminded of another book I read many years ago entitled "Prison to Praise". A christian author gave his story of how praising in every situation changed his life for the good. "The Magic" goes into detail on a method of "how" to transform your life by practicing gratitude. So, this chapter of posting will be dedicated to following the steps in Rhonda Byrne's method to transform my life into a magical existence through transforming me from the inside out into a grateful person who practices gratitude every day and attracts goodness so that I may become all I am destined to be.

Relevance and Identity Cont.

...Although I have realized how irrelevant I had become in the old culture I was saturated with, I have also realized how to become relevant in every situation. I'm not saying I've conquered that in every case, but I do see the path to success. If I can really know who I am, as God sees me (which is the most important key - as God sees me), and if I can give who I am fully in every situation, I will never be irrelevant. God is never irrelevant. I know some may disagree with this, but that is only because they haven't experienced the God that is always good and always loving. Knowing God is always good, every time, anywhere, is really a very radical statement. If we really believe that, it would begin to take us down a path leading far from fear, far from religion, far from failure (not far from mistakes, but far from failure - there is a difference), far from lack, far from emptiness...into joy, into peace, into fulfillment, into success, into passionate and unconditional love. I could go on. So, my path is leading me through the experiential knowledge of the great joy, peace and love. Where there is love, fear cannot live. Therefore, I am also experiencing freedom from fear like never before. There more I write, the more the subject of this true love culture seems to have endless boundaries of discovery. "I want more God, more of you, more of your love, more of the experience of you goodness, your love, your joy, your peace."

Relevance: are you ever too old?

In some ways, I never thought I would be here. In some ways, I wish it hadn't taken so long. I began in my mid 50's to change what culture I lived in. There has been a lot of turmoil and upheaval from the inside out due to this decision. The decision will lead to pain but it must happen from the inside out. That is because culture always exists and is also created from the inside of us to the outside of us. What ever is on the inside of us determines our behavior. We may want to be a certain way. We may say we are a certain way, but if our belief system contradicts with how we want to be or how we say we are, the belief system always wins out and our behavior is the byproduct. I have seen that my old belief systems made me irrelevant to a culture based on true and unconditional love. From my youth, maybe even birth, I have wanted to live, breath and exude the love of God. I tried to control and change my behavior to fit that love, but since my basic belief system was that God only loved me if I am good, this basic belief system kept me from true change from the inside out. The only way for me to love purely and completely was to realize God always loves me purely and completely, unconditionally. He loves me this way no mater what I do or accomplish, no matter how I behave and no matter what position or title I hold. He doesn't love me like this because I deserve it. He loves me like this, because he deserves it. He loves me because he is the purest of all lovers. For me to be able to love the way he does, I must know him and receive that love completely. The level at which I love, is directly correlated with the level at which I receive his love and know who I am in him. Who I am in him - now there is another thing to ponder. How he sees me is who I really am and in him I become all that I'm meant to be. This is a massive subject on it's own, so we shall continue later.

Salado Shines

This weekend we are in Salado, Texas, one of my favorite places to chill out. We are with Sam & Kathi Rhodes and having a blast. The food is delightfully delicious, the activities are fun with an emphasize on frolic and the company makes love go around. Thank you Lord for the lovely world and loving friends you created.

Some of the Women I Love

I was thinking this morning on the women I love. The list is very long. To me, that means I am very blessed. I love these many women for different reasons on one hand and for some of the same reasons on the other. The following fall in the "same" category (you know how I love categories):
* I love them for the life that exudes from their being
* I love them for their beauty - though varied, they are all beautiful
* I love them for their laughs - they all have wonderful laughs
* I love them for their mischievousness - with some, you must dig deep to see, but all have it
* I love them for their love of the Trinity -Father, Son & Holy Spirit- & how they relate to Him
I could go on (I love lists as much as categories), but what about their differences that I love?
This is harder to express, but not hard to feel, because, sometimes when I thing of them as a group, all their faces and their attributes, gifts, personalities, etc., get mingled and mixed in a lovely pool of memory for me. But, I will list those loved ones that come to mind and one of things I love about each. Keep in mind, they may share some of these attributes too, but in my opinion, each one owns the one listed with passion and excellence:
* I love Kathy Hawk for her spiritual passion and strength (definitely birthed from her joy) which enables her to look for the righteous and loving way, no matter how painful.
* I love Erica Prosser for her sense of humor and her conflict of person. For although this conflict causes her pain, I believe she uses it to choose God in her weakness and therefore she is strong. She inspires me to do the same with my conflict.
* I love Trish Trueblood for her pure heart. She continually meets hard situations with a positive outlook and a trust in her God.
* I love Ashlee Bradford for her encouraging and kind words which heal my heart.
* I love Pam Park for her mix of great intelligence, great passion and great humility. Her love for me sooths my soul.
* I love Francesca Hafner for the way she submits herself and all of who she is to God and out of that submission her being she is evolving into a mighty ministry to people. My heart melts when I observe how she strengthens others and leads them out of captivity as she also leads me.
* I love Cherith Newman for her depth of maturity clothed in a protection of innocence. Your pure heart with protect your destiny.
* I love Amanda Chavez for her love of life, although she sometimes protects it from showing, God will use this love of life to bring people to righteousness: Enthusiasm in humility of heart breads life.
* I love Jennifer Chavez for the passion of her quest. The enemy has attempted to destroy her through very deep heart wounds, but she has look on the face of Jesus and she shall never turn back from that light. The light is and will do surgery to heal the wound and bring new flesh to her heart.
* I love Rachel Laughlin for her kindness. She chooses humility and kindness and yet is not afraid to delve into the detail of the hard decisions and how they need to change her.
* I love Candy Hallford because she never gives up, never stops seeking Jesus, never stops seeking His prize, though she dies in the process and though she doesn't seek perfectly.
* I love Ashley Caperton for her strength of faith and how she continually unwaveringly applies it to her life and prayer for others.
* This brings me to Ginny. I love Ginny Hawk for her strength of covenant intertwined with her pureness of heart. She will love to the end.
* I love Krissy Hawk for her deep passion and prophetic nature which she has used as a bridge to leave off all fear and seek God with no reservation - no matter what it looks like.
* I love Donna Halliburton for her infectious laughing spirit and her strength to serve which is birthed from the deep joy it brings her.
* I love Gail Vinson for her faithful friendship and her unconditional love - she always makes me feel safe.
* I love Brandi Wilson for her example of how to be a princess with a heart of humility. She doesn't know this, but her princess heart has helped free me from a poverty mentality.
* I love Becky Cauthen for her heart of longing for freedom, freedom for herself, her family, her church, for all. I love they way she goes for her passions at the risk of failure, but with the fruit of great success. She, like Erica, allows her inner conflict to spur her on to righteousness.
* I love Monica Reid for the calming love she wraps others in. She is trustworthy.
* I love Amy Yates - to use a cliche: "her beauty is not just skin deep". She also has a princess heart wrapped in humility. Many of the lovely women I love will be or are now becoming queens and learning how to rule with love - Amy is a prime example.
* I love Kristina Reedy - her energy and fountain of the life of Jesus is very powerful in her.
* I love Rose Melton - my beautiful rose. Her humility and faithfulness astound me. Her hugs are a healing tonic to our bones and spirits.
* I love the lively Kristi Ancheta. I love her innocence and mischievousness. I love the root of deep love in her that motivates her to serve and faithfulness.
* I love Kristi Belcher and her adorable sense of humor which springs from a spicy and loving heart. Her enthusiasm for life and ability to lead inspire me.
* I love Wendy Barron. She may be the most "I will obey my God and never give up on what He has told me to do" person I know. She is a sweet friend.
* I love Dana Bell. How I love Dana. She has become a great joy to me. I love her passion for people. I love her many stories. I love her faith and faithfulness - because of which she has and will be healed completely: body, soul and spirit.
Now you see some of the many reasons I am blessed among women, blessed among friends, blessed among sisters.

Are We What We Eat? Is Our World What We Eat?

I am blessed to know so many awesome, loving, unique, creative, beautiful, full of life people. One of these lovely ones is lovingly nicknamed Pamelotta or Pammy. This faithful friend of mine recently gave me a book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma". I have begun reading this delicious combination of science and philosophy (a combination which Pam and I commonly adore) and would like to share. I have often been interested in food, food of every kind, every kind of food for the body...every kind of food for the soul...every kind of food for the spirit. Food: anything that sustains; anything that nourishes; anything that brings life (of course this is the definition in my mind). "The Omnivore's Dilemma is about the three principal food chains that sustain us today: the industrial, the organic and the hunter-gatherer." (p. 7) The following quote gives an example of how delightfully our eating networks with areas we don't often think of:
" 'Eating is an agricultural act,' as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world - and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasure of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world; this book is probably not for them. There are things in it that will ruin their appetites. But in the end this is a book about the pleasure of eating, the kinds of pleasure that are only deepened by knowing." (p. 11)
Isn't this route of thinking so true of our being, not just our eating? Just as how we eat effects our bodies, our economy, our politics, our culture, our environment and probably more I haven't thought of, so what we feed our soul and spirit affects all that and more. Isn't connection beautiful? Isn't connection satisfying?
Lord, I submit another level of control to you - a level I haven't seen before. If I control what I feed my body, soul or spirit, then there will be times that what I feed myself will bring an unacceptable outcome. I want to come into my highest potential for this life you have created. Therefore, you must be in control of all of me. I give you control of what I feed myself. I do not give up control to the law, although you created the law. I do not give up control to my mind, will, emotions, body or spirit, although you created them too. I give up control to you Holy Spirit. Control based on relationship and not law. Control based on love. Control based on your love which says what I eat is not what defiles me, but what comes out of me.

What to Do With a Rift?

What to do when there is a rift. How I despise them. Why must the pain of the rift be greater than the pain of the conflict? Long ago I had pride (before my fall) that I was so good at relationship that I could prevent any rift. That was not true. That would only be in the hands of my God. Only He could prevent rifts. What do you do when the pain of relationship seems too hard? What do you do when you've given many chances - it seems an infinite number - and the chances are dissolved into each betrayal? What do you do when you gave your heart and your "friend" (knowing you, you thought) found greater pain in having relationship than in destroying it? What do you do? You forgive. You continue to give chances. You love with His love, not your love. You "feed on all that is gained and nothing that is lacking" (I love your words Bill Johnson). You "plant the seed of your lack by giving it back to God in thanksgiving, so that it may reap the spiritual justice and good fruit instead of barrenness, death, loneliness and infinite lack". I will choose to believe and not fear, because my God is pouring out His grace on me and on my weakness. His grace blows into my limp, hollow life like breath blows up an empty balloon, so that it is tight and round and full and ready for it's destiny. Without Him, I am nothing. His grace washes over my parched and cracked and hard heart, changing me from old and leathered like an ancient skin to new subtle, fresh and elastic, like a baby. Like a baby from the inside out, from elastic bones to subtle skin - resilient. My God is resilient, therefore, so am I. I love Him. Everything He asks is worth it. One last note: With the pain of this, we step further into our destiny, not because God brings pain, but because He brings the way out and shapes us into something new in the process.