Reconciliation

Well, this was supposed to have been Wednesday's posting, but death by head cold overcame me for the week!  I guess if children can be diseased vermin, so can grandchildren!  But, this afternoon I am finally on the mend.

So, in my last post I mentioned the importance of reconciliation several times while discussing forgiveness, why?  Because the entire point of our forgiving is to reconcile with one another.

Hmmmm, and that is certainly what this weekend is about.

First off, let us kill the Roman Catholic understanding that his is "Good Friday", because Jesus died on the cross for me.  Face palm, everyone of you believing that.

Please look up and read the basis of the Abrahamic Covenant.  Genesis 15:
⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹ Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi^[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

The concept is one Abram would have understood.  God is making a Mesopotamia covenant with him, if God fails, He will have to bare the burden of the sacrifice just made.  If Abram fails, or his descendants fails, the humans will have to bare the burden of the sacrifice.  In other words, be butchered.

But, God did not call upon the remains of Judah to pay any price for their disobedience, God paid their price as well for the sacrifice.  God had to become flesh to be killed, He did so as Jesus.  God had to die, as did Jesus.  Of course, it is to our (gentile) delight that He was risen from the grave, for now death had been conquered, for all man, inclusively!

Did Jesus die for your (gentile) sins?  In a round about way but that would be not what the crucifixion was about.
Did Jesus die for my sins?  Well, my female ancestor line is Hebrew, on my mother's side.  So yes, Jesus paid for the price of my ancestor's rebellion to God and sin.

And just like all man, you and I are covered by the Blood Jesus shed for our sin.  Thank heavens!  I would not want to face God with my track record before I became a Christian.  Okay, post-Christian has not been that shining either.....

So, Jesus reconciled the Jew to God.  Jesus by extension, reconciled all of mankind to God, our creator.

In like fashion reconciliation was  been important between all Christian believers.  We are to reconcile with those of our faith and then be at peace with all others.

So, just as I sought to reconcile with my friend, just as I seek to reconcile with my sister gone astray and my estranged daughter, so each of us is required to do so.  In fact we are told to not even partake of communion if we have not reconciled with someone we hold something against.  That is how important this is to God.  So, I stand, waiting with a heart open (much against my better judgement) to welcome my sister and daughter back.  Because God commands this of them.  I, as the wronged party here, get to wait and even make offers of peace, but it is something they must do.  Luckily, God never told us to forget how we got played.....  So, it will be interesting to ever see happen, but He is the one whom has to make them miserable enough to be forced into doing so.  Yeah, I can be flippant now but I know I will be in tears when this happens.

So, like me you need to release your unforgiveness, like me you either get to present reconciliation or to await it from those whom wronged you.  Like me you may wait a long time, but if you have done all you can do, then you get to wait and pray for them to catch up.

Now to address my American readers, if unforgiveness is something that is lodged in your heart.  Just becaue you have carried a burden of hate and/or unforgiveness for "Bob", does not mean that you confront "Bob" and lay it all out to him, if he is unaware of what was in your heart.  Now if it was actions, that is something else, you need to ask his forgiveness, but I can not begin to tell you how many times I hear the repeated story at how someone went to "Bob", whom was clueless as to the situation, and then dumped all over them with this new truth.  "Bob", of course, is offended and will never talk to you ever again - and you wonder why.  Hello!  And, I hear this all of the time from Americans with an ultra-wild sense of zeal for disclosing what has never been known and wondering at why they then get rejected.

So, if they know by gossip or rumors, or your own actions towards them, by all means approach them and humble yourself.  Otherwise, shut up.  Go to those you spread gossip or rumors to and take it back.  And, shut up.  If you disagree take some basic psychology and human communication classes first to understand how humans think and deal with one another, then complain to me.

Apologies and Forgiveness

Friday night was so horrible.  What was expected to be a wonderful night, sort of came crashing down.  I was an emotional mess, my friend was an emotional mess and train wrecks do happen.  As we parted, I texted, "I am sorry."

You have to understand that this was the very first apology of my life, ever!  I have never felt guilt, never felt shame, never felt remorse; I was a sociopath after all, and at two months and three weeks of being "normal", I got to discover all three of them in a split instant and apologized for real.

Saturday morning I had a presentation to attend for review on breakthroughs in acrylic polymers.  Yeah, I know, sounds like death to you, but it is the kind of thing I love to learn about and play with.  And it was a brain dump let me tell you!  That lady talked for 3.5 hours straight and left me wondering just how much was I able to get into my notes!
Of course, I was in such a mental state that I wrote three poems while waiting for the event to even start up!  It is hard to express resentment of your self in a poem.  sigh.

Sunday, 4 am I woke up and knew that death would be better.  I had my youngest grand-daughter's cold.  And I had even been super careful around her!  Being the product of too many royal lines, all merging, to create someone with no immune system anyone is aware of!  Someone sneezes, 200 miles away in Oregon, I will get it.

So, one endless Kleenex ride ever since.

Of course, I had a meeting on Monday, a time to be with my friend, to work on making Kris better, a time for prayer, and to apologize for Friday night again.  Sigh.

And God granted me my voice back and I thought, "Wow, I am beating this!"  But, no, my voice only returned for the duration of our visit.  A miracle, yeah, because He had something He wanted me to say.  To talk about the importance of forgiveness in our lives.

We all have areas in our lives where forgiveness is needed.

For me, my latest opportunity came when my daughter went so suddenly sideways.  I never was very angry with my new daughter, sure a little unhappy at the path she has chosen, but it stunned me to have figured out that I needed to forgive her mother.  She had played me, then she betrayed my daughter, for personal gain and I was stunned to learn this.  And I had to forgive her.  Yeah, but it is hard since she has chosen not to be a part of my life, since long before the disaster came.  I just figured she was being odd.  So I have added her daily to my prayers, a prayer for her to reconcile with me, in a different manner than new daughter.  But, reconcile she must and I just wait and watch for God to provide the opportunity.  He will, I am confident.

And just like me, my friend has been wronged in life and carried the burden of forgiveness.  Just like you and me, she needs to find out how to release that unforgiveness at the foot of the cross and not take possession of it again.  But it is hard to do.  When I figured out how I was played by my sister, oh I was hot!  It took me a spell to cool down and figure out that I had to forgive and abandon that anger in order to move forward.  I am glad I did because I honestly do love her and her daughter, but it will remain unreturned until we can reconcile.

So why did I need to talk with her about this?  Because, God told me I needed to address this and then painfully showed me why.  Then to drive home the point He brought two people into my life during the week, both with problems dealing with unforgiveness.  They both thought I was a genius since I had hit on their issues so quickly.  (well I am, but.....)  If God had not opened the window into Kris, then the issue would not have been unknown to me.  And they would not have walked away understanding how to free to themselves.

Yeah God is pretty awesome.  Show me I suck and how to deal with it, so that others can benefit from it.  Yeah, nothing like being an object lessons for others!

Warm Bodies

It is hard for me to avoid a zombie movie.  Usually they are filled with sick humor which really appeals to me.

Warm Bodies, is your usual zombie flick: zombies hunting humans for their brains, humans hunting zombies to blow out theirs.  yawn.....

But, this film is also a love story between a zombie and a young woman.  Apparently the zombie for whatever reason wanted to relearn about emotion and love, while she was more interested in not having her brains bashed out and eaten.  You will have to like dark humor to love this film.

And there sat this adult, with a two month, three week old emotion - in fully control of him, no old nature left to revert to - to protect him from what was coming.  I was forced to tears as I experienced a flood of emotion.  I think my friend feared for my sanity and asked if I needed to leave.  I probably should have, my emotional state for the rest of the evening was a train wreck.

Surprisingly, Kris gives this movie a thumbs up.  Think Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" crossed with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night or maybe Romeo and Juliet, only played backwards since he starts out dead and comes back to life.  Yeah, campy but fun.

Is it an owner?  I do not know.  I refused to watch during a disrobing scene, it would have been to much at that point.  I also refused to watch points where snogging was going to be the action.  I was an emotion wreck as I said.  Apparently, it takes very little to set me off.  So, one day it may become an owner but for now I am too financially broke and emotionally fragile.

Recommendation?  Yeah, teenagers on up would enjoy this film, either for the love story or the brain eating.  heh, heh, heh, heh.......

Restoring Christianity

It is not too late for Christianity to be reintroduced to America and through a change in our culture by extension to the rest of the world.  It starts with you, it starts with your family, it starts with  your neighbors, you town, your state.  For those of you whom know me, you know that I am about as un-evangelical as you can get, however ..... it seems that I, we, you, all of us ..... have come upon a time to act.  Not as a banging drum of "Repent You Are Going To Hell" - there probably are those whom need to do that, but as loving witnesses to all of those around us.  And we have to avoid all doing the same thing.

Some need to be addressing the abortion issue; offer adoption, finances for adoption, find couples, finds girls willing to adopt out and not kill their babies.  You might have to offer them a home to live in even while they are pregnant.  If you can afford, to even pay for their birthing process!

Some need to take on the sex trade.  When even in my neighborhood, a home not six from my own, turned out to be a place where Thai girls where brought to for prostitution to rich oriental businessmen visiting my city, there is a major problem here!  As I am learning, that problem just might be in every known corner of this country!  Girls are routinely shipped around the world as part of the slave trade - this must be stopped!  No, I am clueless but I recognize the problem.  I expect Argentina to be a hot spot in the very near future (as the Olympics are now headed that way).  It will take governmental, local governmental changes, neighborhoods made aware of the problem and a system of exposing and prosecuting those involved with REAL prison time.  And then there is the need to reach out to those women (that would be the job for a females here to perform without male input.....)

The social stigma of a woman wanting a family must end within our ranks.  Conversely, the Church stigma of a woman working outside the home must end as well.  We must learn to accept one another and support one another!  This is not rocket science here!

Dating, within our ranks, must become public or group situations.  As parents, you are worse than a fool to allow your child to play adult situational games without the tools needed to support that environment.  And sorry but if that golden boy/girl is not a Christian, you really have no business being with them at all.

Pastors faced with sin within the eldership, have to strategically trim the sin from the body.  If the head is corrupted, the body will follow.  (hmmm, whom said that one?)  And conversely, when sin is found in the Pastor, it is time to replace them.  Sorry, you toast your Christian witness and there really is no recovery back to a pastorate or to eldership.  That is why you are supposed to be oh so careful in the first place!

 How do you want to deal with the "gay" agenda?  It is mighty hard to slam a barn door closed once it has opened but the Christian attack will continue as the government places more and more pressure to conform on churches whom refuse to marry them, etc.  this will require direct political pressure to be applied, single issue (non-redneck) candidates supported, etc.  We really do not need to be seen as haters but those whom would take us over should understand that there is a fight if they wish to do so.

How are we to get non Christian teachers out of our seminaries?  Good luck, that one should have been done in the 1960's!  How are we to hold Christian publishers accountable?  Companies whom are the largest are amongst the worse with the garbage they publish.  I often wonder if there is a book not published!  I hate the thought of a screening board, but honestly, is that unreasonable given the media today?  And we must stop the government approved assault upon our children, without appearing as raving lunatics.

And as I read this, I am struck by how reactionary it sounds.  How hard core this week reads as and yet, it is only by comparison to the ground the church has lost across the past fifty years it becomes so.

As Christians we have every reason to stand solid in our faith.  We can prove our Bible, the critics are without ammunition and yet their liberalism would have you think otherwise.  It is why I went into apologetics in the first place, not be another Ravi Zacharias, we only need one.  But, to find out for myself what was exactly truth about my religion - was it all faith, or was there more to it than that.

Well, I hope this has all given  you something to think about....

The American Christian Cult

Like any cult, American Christianity is not Christian, it is pagan.  Through film, books, and TV the modification to Christianity has been coming slowly but steadily.  Today we look at a religion no one in the first century would have recognized.

Monday, I demonstrated how the affects of American culture can be found even in a Siberian traffic accident.  Tuesday at how Christianity has gone from the Church Universal to the Church Individual.  All that remains of Christianity today is what is inside of you if you are an American believer.  Sure there are a few Christian churches left around, but we can write off the denominations due to their loss of credibility through politics and lost witness.  Yes, I know there are some awesome pastors out there, some awesome churches, but corporately we are not seeing much of an impact on culture.  Wednesday I discussed my observation at the major push by the American government to change Christianity through popular opinion and court rulings, first stripping the Church of it tenants of faith and then forcing acceptance of court rulings.

As mentioned on Tuesday, the future of the Christian Church will be to resort to collectivism, to regather back into a Church Universal.  Unfortunately, two forces will work against that success.  First is the question of what to do with the Roman Catholic Church.  No, it is not Christian, there are Christians whom are members but the denomination is not.  You would have to strip large portions of the church in order to make it so and then it would be financially un-maintainable (hint: the highly profitable and popular Cult of Mary).  Second, you have the American lack of faith to deal with.  Yes, there are American Christians, but the church which would gather would not represent them, it would represent the American way of life, is perhaps better expressed as death.  Either of these will destroy any God-ly intent through their financial power, demands for power and constant push for what destroyed them in the first place.

What would that new religion look like?

• Equality of the sexes, where woman's responsibility is the same as man's.
• Acceptance of ungodliness by youth and even encouraged through sexual roles.
• Marriage is optional, right for some but not all.
• Divorce is something which happens to the best of us.
• Expressions of sexuality are not to be condemned.
• Acceptance of abortion.
• Acceptance of euthanasia.
• The equality of woman guarantees a priesthood for women.
• Sexuality is now defined by choice, not gender, nor roles.

Lost is the understanding that there is a God whom demands a level of behavior, which increases with your position within the Church.  Lost is any witness for whom God is.  Lost is every believers freedom within the faith, save for the eldership.

Gained is an understanding that Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad or your shiny rock are all equal for you, if it fills that void built into all of us.

So we will have a brotherhood of man, bent upon pacifying ourselves, doing as we please - because we believe it to be right, and as long as we do not run afoul the government - they will be fully supportive.  Our future generation is already being gently rocked straight into disbelief and I do not see very many out there willing to take a stand and say, "I think we have a problem here folks....."  You can't when you are being kept relatively fat and happy.  It is through choice or discontent when you are first able to see something is wrong.

So, what are WE to do?

Creation of a Pagan Cult

So, we have seen how religion has broken down from a central authority to a point where today, we have individual authority.  Yes, we do have the Holy Spirit to tell us right from wrong, but I am not so sure that it gets as much listen time as does the constant drone of the media of the pagan culture in our lives.

So, you have a country, America, established by Christians, fleeing migratory worker conditions in the Netherlands, landing in a new world where opportunity abounds, not the least of which is the freedom to worship God without governmental intervention.  Of course, it was not to stay that way for long.

Now not everyone was a Christian, but most had a culture which they came from having had Christian grandparents or parents, so values were passed on and the outcasts were constantly pushed to the west.  (another story for another time!)

There was a point where this America, was to eclipse Great Britain as the sender of missionaries to the world, the publisher of volumes and works to help the individual understand whom God is, to help the brethren the world over, in their time of crisis.  There was a time when America was getting it right.  But, politics and a pagan worldview were to eclipse what America had been.

Bythe 16th century, the Roman Catholic church had become corrupt and worldly.  It had sold its soul for power and to greed.  Yes, the magnificence of what that church created is awe inspiring, but they did it under the banner of a god they no longer knew.  Tradition had replaced faith, money had replaced relationship with God, and often the basest of men held the title of Pope and priest.  Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, discovered that God was real, that He was personally discoverable, that he had been lied to by the church universal.  His call for Scripture Only, was to call the church back to its roots and faith.  But, he was to find a pagan faith had captured his church and politicians were playing it for what they could - gain, just as the church was playing them.  Luther's epiphany was to realize that man could know God apart from the permission and rites of the church.

16th century brought the believer a knowable God, Bibles in native languages and the printing press.
17th century brought believers to a land where they were free to worship apart from government.
18th century brought the concept that government should behave in line with Scripture.
19th century saw the explosion of a worldwide witness, the concept of literal Biblical interpretation.
20th century saw the end of Christianity.

Huh?  This past century has assailed Christianity unlike any other in our 2,000 year history.  Unlike early attempts to control Christianity, Christians did not rise up against a government bent on stripping the religion of its basis.  No, it joined in with the government and when it realized where they were going, it was too late to herald a call of concern, they had lost the validity of their witness.

World War was the cause for a female work force.  Biblically, women have always worked in and outside of the home!, have always run businesses, read Acts if you disagree, read Paul's salutations to his fellow tent makers!  Women worked, women worked along side their husbands, women played an interesting role in the nuclear family for thousands of years, until a corrupt Christianity told them their place was in the home, subservient to men.  But war changed that, the culture of the day, the government called women to work outside the home, to run businesses, to be the support for themselves and their family - just the way it had been before a corrupt Christianity had decided otherwise.  By the end of the 20th century, woman was expected to be holding her own, often at the expense of her family - lost was the ability to decide for herself without being judged by her own kind!  The concept of servitude had become slavery, submissiveness by a female some form of mental illness, conversely, to be a business woman was sneered at by the church and those whom still held to the corrupt tenants of faith.  Today we are in the middle of change concerning allowing women to free choose their own way: this question has brought us relationships where we might get married, if even that, meeting for the purposes of having sex, sharing of property and not much else.  The Christian church of the post war years took a stand which was not Biblical and now reaps the harvest of professional woman not very comfortable with the local church; and if the church was wrong about work, obviously they are wrong about marriage as well.  The Christian Church lost its validity by refusing to accept woman's historical role in life.

Marriage was something mature responsible adults engaged in.  Yes, Miriam, Jesus mother, might have been all of 12 or 13.  That has little bearing here because America created the sickness called dating where two people, too young to be trusted alone, are put together and guess what?  Yeah, disasters are created.  When in some states a 12 year old girl could be passed off in marriage in my lifetime, with the parents consent of course( $$$$!), there is an evil in this land.  Sure, we now have that number up to 16, but it is doubtful that any female is any the more responsible for it.  We have a culture built upon the sex trade and the pushing of sex to younger and younger ages in our schools and in our society (not to mention films!).

Divorce laws were very one sided and draconian in their application.  Yes, anytime man is involved in a practice, it is going to be gummed up by their lies and stupidity.  We are told that divorce was allowed by God due to the hardness of man's heart.  No doubt, those pre-mid-20th century laws caused many unhappiness's, hospitalizations, and killings.  Then there are the children whom had to deal with the mess their parents have made.  My grandmother was married 5 times, my father 8, my uncles numerous times.  I hate divorce, I hated the mere thought of marriage because of it.  Yeah, it messed me up, I realized that even as a 16 year old.  Divorce is now common place amongst the Christian community.  No I honestly do not have an answer to the hardness of our own hearts.  It kills me to see how people can change and how what once was love, is now hatred.  I was on the receiving end once, I tried to stand, I honestly tried ..... to no avail it seems.  And the open divorce law changes gave both feminism and the sexual revolution a big boost.

Adultery was considered wrong by the church.  The 1960's brought us the sexual revolution.  In content, there was no real revolution, sex outside of marriage has probably always existed.  But, what had not before existed was a toleration by the culture and by a church which was unable to reach out and not condemn them for their sin, while ignoring their own.  But, hey, everybody does it!  Well that is what they said when I was in high school and judging by the number of pregnant girls, they did, but equally, I did not know of a single guy in my school whom would admit they had, even in private.  So, just whom was EVERYBODY?  Today, while I was still employed, rampant sex was common place in the office, at all managerial levels.  Long lunches common and one director I know of even would drive his camper to work so he could be more comfortable during those long lunches..

Christianity once held that life was precious.  Yet, court approved abortions led to a culture shift where by the killing of the unborn was justifiable if a woman was willing to approve this to be done.  Even if the court case was a total farce, as later claimed, the flood gates to murder the unborn had been opened.  Life was no longer precious.  This allowed the likes of Dr. Kivorkian to set up machines so that people could commit suicide easier.  We now allow routinely for non-resuscitation in hospitals.  Although, I believe this evil, I could not prevail upon my father's doctors not to end his life when he had pneumonia and was in a drug induced coma (so could not change his mind!).  And let no one forget the Terri Shivo disaster with the court ordered starvation of someone whom may have only existed at a child's intelligence level, but all the same, she was alive and could relate as a child.  She is now dead and forgotten by the culture of death which ordered her starvation.

Paul's words, which you can not bend, state: women are not to hold authority over a man.  ie: women do not hold an office in the Christian church.  And yet, America, across the denominations have all educated women for the priesthood with interesting comments:  Women are needed in the mission field, We have no men to send.  (then send NO ONE!)  Women are only being educated - we are not going to ordain them (really? and where is that in the Bible?). Even J Vernon McGee, a man I have tremendous respect for said that he knows, when he sees a female pastor or missionary, that there are least ten men whom did not step forward to do what they were called to do.  A valid observation, but it allowed for rebellion within the church all the same.  Today, forty years after these practices, we have women in the pastorates, we have women Bishops in many denominations, it is not really all that uncommon.  And Paul said that this would not be accepted by the Christian Church.....

But America's cultural attack on Christianity was not over.  Two tenants of faith remain for cultural acceptance to percolate into the faith:

Biblically, homosexuality was dealt with severely.  Personally, I recognize that my friends whom are "gay" need Jesus just as much as I did before I became a Christian.  Killing them or banning them from culture is not going to witness God's truth to them.  Conversely, accepting their CHOSEN way of life is not going to either, but it will destroy one more facet of Christianity in its call to godliness.  Luckily we no longer kill homosexuals, except in parts of Texas, however I live in a state which has now defined marriage as being between adults, not a man and a woman.  So, we now are legally forced to accept that homosexuality is normal.  The argument used this past election?  It will bring more tourist dollars to our state as "gays" come here to get married.....  Yeah, Christianity lost its validity in this state long ago.

Sanctity of the Priesthood was important.  But with all of the above which has changed the Church in America, it is no wonder we now have divorced pastors, gay pastors, adulterous pastors, pastors whom are not even Christian, etc in our churches today!  The perfect storm has been declared against the pastorate.  I recently heard a local pastor comment that it was okay if the youth pastor had fouled up with one of the girls, as long as there was only one girl involved.  Huh?!?!?!?  It is okay that the guy had breached his role as pastor to youth, his witness as to the reality of God, to have sex with one of them .....we will just keep it quiet - and keep him as well because he is a great guy?  That is just plain messed up!  And I expect to see God quietly move against that church, that pastor and that youth pastor....  And the girl?  Yeah, write off another one whom could have been living their life for God.

So:

Women were first pressed into being completely dependent upon their husbands by the church, then called out into the workforce by the government, and then judged by the church for doing what had been natural before the corruption!
The church was willing to accept dating as being valid since the whole buying and selling of a bride or slaves could be seen as a correlation.  And well, kids will be kids, so let's get them married quicker!
The church lost its credibility by attempting to conscript women to a role of slavery through marriage.
Divorce is now common in the church, we have no answers for our own, much less a culture bent upon throwing one another away.
Adultery is not even considered a sin any longer.  It is hormones, a poor choice.  Your are not responsible!
Thus the church's stand on life could not be accepted by those whom accepted the rampant sexuality of culture.
To be politically correct, to address the numerous lawsuits, my own mother being one of them, women are serving as pastors in the American church.
Homosexuality is now an accepted norm, not a group for whom outreach is important to.
And finally, there is no acceptable standard for a pastor to have to meet.

So what now?  Well check back tomorrow and lets see where this line of reasoning goes.

Breakdown of Religion

So, I am hoping that yesterday's post helped you to see that the American culture is pervasive around the world.  The affects of Hollywood and its export of slang and warped world values has tremendously changed the face of the world, and not for the better.  When American swear words, no matter how badly pronounced, can be recorded at a Siberian traffic accident - you have all the proof you need.

Today I want to look at the breakdown of religion.  You more than likely have seen it, even commented on it, but not realized the trend.  So, let us partake of a little history lesson:

Lots of people I talk to lament the loss of the Church as documented in the book of Acts.  I think even I would have loved to have been part of such a church, however, reality is always a bit different - no one wants a government over them as the Roman one was over the whole of the "civilized" Earth at the time!  The role and function of that Acts church, was in direct contrast to the role and function of that evil empire.  And Romans wondered, in writing, at what was this faith which not only took care of its own, but also of its communities - when the Roman government saw no reason to.

Our Acts based church was local, it had disciples whom had followed Jesus as their head and they in turn were under the authority of the Apostles and Church of Jerusalem.  Of course, with the upheaval of the slaughter of those disciples and Apostles, shortly to be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem, the Christians scattered, yet maintained a loose confederation amongst themselves.

Eventually, we end up with a Church eldership based out of Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople, even Carthage - depending upon whom your church was associated with.  Eventually, the Christian church ended up with seven Popes, all claiming authority, over all of Christendom.  It was a political and religious mess.  Eventually, this shook down to just two real Popes - West centered in Rome, East in Constantinople (yeah and there was an oriental one but honestly very ineffective in history).  Two Christianities, both believing they were right, both actually wrong in just as many regards.  The western Church was the more successful and became just as abusive and un-Godly as the Roman Empire they replaced had been.

If the Acts based Church had it right, then the organization of churches under Rome, had it gravely wrong.  Bright young minds realized this and for hundreds of years wrestled with the question of how do you bring truth back to the people?  If those whom were educated, could have access to the manuscripts, then they could read and know for themselves whom God is and tell those whom could not read.  Most of them were burned at the stake by the Church for their efforts.

Oh there were separatists whom were able to break away from the Church, most of them did not fare well though.  The English King separated his Christians from the Roman church, so that he could get a divorce without Pope approval.  His own church, to run his way, to support his beliefs and he still killed all those whom sought a native language Bible.  In France, almost the same situation, eventually the separatists fled to Zurich under the safe passage guarantees of John Calvin, whom then had them executed as heretics.

The Roman church was fracturing and it was to be in future Switzerland where it was to take hold.  Men such as Huss, Hutt, and Zwingli were to define a Christianity, which could be defended in public before their Roman counterparts.  They did not fare much better than the French did, but the movement was to take hold and thinking men were to begin to question.  Luther was to create the first real split, a Christian church based upon Biblical tenants, not personal preferences - and he created the beauty of the German Bible.

It can be argued that the Roman church had become completely corrupt by this time and Luther's call for a faith based upon Scripture and a God whom will deal with us personally, answered the call of the many.  Equally, it was to doom the future church as you will see tomorrow.

In England, Puritans, were to successfully split from the state church and although they had to flee to the Netherlands for the right to live and survive as migrant workers, they were willing to.  Because they had found God.  Being offered free land in the America's help to remove them from migrant worker status to land owner.  A new nation would be born with the best of intentions - a place where God could be freely worshiped.  Well, for a few hundred years until the god of that new country would become the court system.

So, denominations were born of the evil of the Roman church in the 16th century.
The church universal, Catholic, became denominational , then denominations as there was further disagreement and refining of beliefs - through the 20th century.
Denominations by and large had their hey day in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but by the end of the 20th century, churches would be identified with a denomination, however often with their own spin on the belief set.
And just as denominations failed, churches were to as well.  Politics, end fighting, the world was gaining ground within the church.
This now created a situation we see today, it is the individual believer whom is deciding right from wrong, may gather at church for fellowship, and may have nothing in common with the belief set of the local church.

Where does this train wreck now go?  Well, there is nothing smaller than the individual, so collectivism must come next and again.  The Christian church, now destroyed, will regather - creating something which will not resemble anything which came before it - because the basis of belief has now been lost.  (shades of John's Apocalypse?)

Remember, we are not discussing the state of Christianity worldwide, yet.  That will come tomorrow.  But, this is the outline of the breakdown of the Christianity from unification God-ly to today's individual God-ly.  Of course, I condemn a Christianity based upon American Theology, a pagan belief set, that you will be able to understand tomorrow.  Then see why  collectivism is a requirement and why "Christianity" will then be a dead religion.

Prevalence of Culture

I do not think that those in America understand my concern over the prevalence of the American theological understanding and its impact upon the concept of God or Christianity around the world.  So, today I have devised a method, which is cruelly humorous in its communication.

This YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzIWRh6RBog , is 30 minutes of traffic crashes from January of this year and a few more as well.  Many of these just make you wince because you can see them coming, they are avoidable from the viewpoint of the camera - and without exception, BLAM!  Always.  And a few you never see coming!

So, what does that have to do with America, culture and Christianity?  I want you to just listen to the the video recorders sound track.  By the end of thirty minutes you will be amazed by the sheer number of American idioms you will be hearing expressed by Russians, mostly in Siberia .....  Yeah, you will be amazed.  Oh yeah they are badly pronounced but at least twice Bruce Willis' words leap from the mouth of a surprised Russian!  Most prevalent is Nyet - No.  However, badly pronounced oh my God's, oh God, etc, sometimes even in Russian.  All make an appearance.

So, people of a foreign culture, under stress, break into American idioms.  Hmmmmm.  So, do you think that other aspects of American culture, also captured in film and shown throughout the world, might also be having an impact?

Well, from this immigrant's viewpoint, "Yeah."

And tomorrow I will begin the story telling to show you how Christianity went from Martin Luther, to America, then straight down the toilet of the 20th century - creating a new pagan faith.

If you are American, I hope it opens your eyes just a tiny bit, because by Friday you will be seeing God and yourself quite a bit differently.

Best get the iodine and bandaids, the next thirty minutes are going to hurt....

Happy Birthday Daughter

Happy Birthday

So much I would say on this special day......

The only gift you allow me to give you is my continued prayers, dear Yesfir.
And so they continue.

Love,
papa

Bashing John Lennon

Dead people make such easy targets, they can't reply, not that he would have.....

So my oldest daughter was showing me Pinterest and I was playing along.  When she was done, I roamed around a little and quickly came to the same conclusion that, just like video gaming, there are much better ways to fill one's idle hours.  I honestly do not see what anyone gets from it.

It is nothing more than either Wordpress or Tumblr in a "cleaner" format, however, as I was to discover it does carry its share of porn as well.  Sheeesh!

And I kept running into all of these pictures of John Lennon, sometime with Yoko Ono, with some form of: Love Is All You Need.

Odd, the one whom had never felt love, had to go with the idea of commitment, dedication, honor, sacrifice.  My old pastor always assured me that those were good definitions of love.

But, to the natural man, love is bottom of your stomach giddy feeling, sex, something you use to get sex, just words.

And honestly, I am not so sure that definition is not what has replaced the concept of Love within Christiandom thanks to Hollywood!

Go check out the words to All You Need Is Love and then replace the word Love with:

• Bottom of the stomach giddy feeling
• Sex
• Something you use to get sex
• Just words

Now try:

• Commitment
• Dedication
• Honor
• Sacrifice

Hmm, my how stupid the song becomes, how personally condemning when we try the second set of words!

Yeah we know that Lennon never understood the second set of definitions, but how shallow, to have never understood what he made a fortune with.

Changing Your Worldview

In man’s natural state, our Worldview directly dictates our Values.  Those Values direct the Behavior we will exhibit.  So, natural man’s usual inclination for their Worldview is to be self-directed.  Man wishes to define their own path, make their own decision, based upon the desire to have what is most advantageous to them to occur.  Ego, vanity, self-centeredness is our natural state.  Anything outside of this is, would be an anomaly.

Now, let us consider the Christian, the typical one, maybe you.  Their early training in the faith inevitably encourages them to modify their sinful behaviors.  After all, sin separates us from God; therefore, we must stop sinning in order to get back in the right with God!  Neutral example, they have a problem with lying.  So, easy fix : stop lying!  What more could be natural or easy to do?

So, here the idea is that by stopping your sin Behavior, you will across time change your values and eventually your worldview.  Success!

However, here is the problem: the harder you focus on your sin Behavior, the greater your failures will be!  What?  That does not even make sense!  If you can stop sinning by stopping your lying problem, then how can you fail?  Because, you are not changing your Values, you are leaving the natural man intact.

Now to avoid this problem, you must first change that Worldview, which supports those Values of the natural man, which is controlling your Behavior.

But, how do you change a person’s Worldview?

Well, as a general statement, this is how:

Begin back with the previous diagram, the Christian Struggle.   

In it, I show that the result of the entire struggle is to change your character, increase your faith, add to your success experiences and ….. what is not shown:  Your successes + the work of the Holy Spirit + time in the Scriptures will yield a changed Worldview.

Instead of hammering Behavior, we focus on our successes as we have them in greater and greater abundance.  Soon, failure goes from several times a day to whatever low a level as you can sustain.  Let’s face it, Satan is sly.  He will hit you when you are down, ill, feeling blue, when we are knocked sideways by life, he will hammer you every chance he gets – and yeah, you may well fail without the support of your trusted community (prayer partners and accountability partners).  Moreover, even their failures can frustrate our own ability to succeed!  Yeah, success can get complicated…..

Okay, so in general, the above is true and what you must do.  However, we do have some difficult situations: prior involvement in the occult, murder, and sexual sin / adultery (straight, gay, no matter, all the same to God).  These three are difficult because you have been playing Satan’s game in his territory and he is not going to let you escape either easily nor silently.  He will bang on you like a drum to remind you that you are his!  In reality, no you are not, you are God’s if you have confessed and accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf.  But, remember that Satan is the liar, he will do anything to get you to give up and turn your back on God and fall back into sin.  ANYTHING.  Get the drift here?  That is how important it is to him to force the young Christian into failure.  To force you to go after behavior rather than your worldview.  To separate you from those you need to call upon for help and make you feel unworthy, dirty, condemned.  To destroy your Christian witness before it ever was.

If my friend, you fall into the above three areas, know that I can feel your pain and the battle you face.  So, what are you to do?  First get yourself into a protective environment of REAL Christians.  Hint, they are rare, but you will need them and they must be real and straight before God.  I am sure that if you are searching in humility, God will bring them your way. One or two of them must become your personal accountability partner – so mega trust and transparency.  If they condemn you or gossip, lose them fast!  Prayer is your number one weapon.  Know your Bible!  I guarantee whatever your sin, you can find there detailed the life of someone whom did as you, and you can see not only the cost they paid but also the way to freedom.  Back on the Christian Struggle diagram, those steps now become extremely important because Satan will hammer you and you have got to have your act together in order to win your fight.  Remember, Jesus already won the war, Satan is already defeated, Jesus’ victory is yours, holding out is the nerve wracking part.  You can even email me, I will join with you in prayer, if there is no one closer.

(Note: changing a worldview is extremely difficult to force in someone else’s life, it is almost impossible to find success in just your life.  Both can be done, both can fail miserably.  Your sincere desire + tremendous prayer by yourself and with others + study will indeed change whom you are…..)

Christian Struggle

Christian Struggle

• The sins we commit
• The temptations we wrestle with

Desire to Change

• Overcoming the temptation
• Stepping out in faith
• Overcoming the struggle
• Winning the battle

Holy Spirit

• God’s agent of change in your life
• Equips the humble with needs
• Brings down the proud

Humility

• Admitting our need to God
• Admitting our need to others
• Product of situation + desire to change
• Need for help

Life Experiences are what we have to draw from:

• Cultural values we have absorbed
• Behavior we have been trained in
• What we have done right
• What we have done wrong
• The amount of faith we possess

Prayer

• Yours for strength, wisdom, knowledge, help
• Corporate for intervention
• Confession of need for help

Rejection

• The willful choice to sin
• Losing the battle

Scripture

• Validates experiences to support the battle
• Examples of other’s battle experiences

Self-Control

• God’s strength in you against temptation
• Product of the development of faith

Temptation

• Opportunities to rebel against God
• Imagined
• Real

Given the above descriptions, you can follow the flow of this diagram from initial Temptation through to your Life Experiences.

Insufficient Life Experiences will lead to sin through ignorance. The inability to apply Scripture to your Struggle, will lead to sin through choice. The willful choice to give into your Struggle, will lead to sin again by choice.
 
Only when you are willing to allow God into your struggle, will you see the ability to change, application of Scripture to your life, giving you the humility you need to be able to approach God in prayer for help.
 
The desired outcome is victory in your life, development of self-control and increase of faith.  All contributing to Life Experiences to assist you the next time you face temptation.
 
Yes, we cannot win all of the Struggles, but we can the majority!

Emotional Survey

Pretty much all you have read for the past six days was written last Monday, I had been foretold to expect change and so I did all of my little tasks and waited.

No one of us could have guessed that Edvard would be taken home that very afternoon, a week later I still sit here stunned.  It is a mute point to use platitudes such as he is in a better place - yes, he is.  But.....

So, Monday - Aunt Elly has a major stroke
     an hour later Ed drops dead.
     I actually have no emotional response to either incident.

Tuesday - a woman drop dead right in front of me on my walk, she was gone before she hit the ground.
     again, no emotional response.

Wednesday - I posted my good bye to Gaelic Girl, and mourned the death within me.

Thursday - my friend was having problems.

Friday - Edvard's funeral, a hard time for the little family remaining.

Saturday - Swedish Rocket Scientist called me first thing to give me a piece of his mind concerning GG's departure.
     I know he is suffering his brother's loss and lashing out at those closest.  His words still stung.
     I also know of his multi-decade attraction to her.  (darn discernment!)

Sunday - God gave me an idea of how to help my friend, you will get to see it tomorrow on this same Bat Channel.

Monday - my first nightmare ever.
      I set aside some time to help my friend and commit to do so long term.

Across seven days, I have encountered these emotions for the first time:

• Anger
• Compassion
• Fear
• Joy
• Loss
• Need
• Pain
• Remorse
• Resentment

There are others but this is a good enough list for you to see that Kris is undergoing a huge change across this past week!  Why, you may well ask.  Because, my very nature has been removed!  Yes, I can no longer call upon whom I was for 58 years to protect me!   The Sociopath literally disappeared, I can find it nowhere within me in order to use it for protection or to squelch this new emotional me!  The miracle appears now to be complete.

I was a genetic sociopath, given a emotion last May, which it took me three weeks to lock away.  It re-appeared in December, this time as a mature calming influence and I have operated with both natures since then, up until Wednesday, when emotional me had to be in control as GG left my life.  Bullet to the brain I tell you.  And if my very nature has been changed, then does that mean my genetics have as well?  We will know in two weeks, when a test i had done at the hospital today shows yeah or nay on that one.  I stand ready to be amazed....

So, change continues to be in the air and honestly I have no clue where anything ends up anymore.  Oh yeah, God is still talking to me and telling me what to do, and I obey, but I am now satisfied to not need explanations from Him any-longer.  And so, I wondered, does this new nature still have the gifts, God has given me?  In the past it was thought this was to protect me.  So?  And yes, they are still there, quietly guiding, quietly supporting, through a work of much delicacy I am performing.  Will they now continue to guide and protect?  I am interested to see and to know.

To my long term readers, welcome to my new world, where nothing is as it seems ..... and faith is the only stepping stone forward.  I really wish I could see 1, 2 and 3 years ahead, it would make all so much easier for me to know how to turn, how to lead, how to follow, what to do with absolute authority.

Welcome to humanity Kris, you seem to have arrived.....

Yeah, anxiety mixed with just a touch of fear.

God Has Your Back

Continuing my series on God's enabling you to be His hands and feet in this world, in spite of whom you are or what you are capable of.

John 1:14-18

Yes, if you have not noticed, I love the book of John.  John has a way of speaking to me like no other of the Gospel writers. I an identify with him and his passion, I can identify with him in his failures, so when he says something - I listen!

God's Son  equips you.
"Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

God's grace enables you.
To approach God.  Hebrews 4:16
To be content.         2 Corinthians 12:9
To say no to ungodliness.  Titus 2:11-12
To say no to sin.     Romans 6:15-16

God's truth empowers you.
To know for sure.   John 14:6

•  Know your source of truth!
• "Fallacy does not cease to be fallacy just because it becomes fancy" Chesterton

To be free.               John 8:31

•  To do His will without concern of cost

To be guided.         John 16:13

• In the moment you are in, at the time your are in need of empowerment!

 God's supply will engulf you!
"and from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace"


The point here is that God will provide what is needed for the situations He puts you in and what He expects of you.  One of my ways of always knowing if I have failed Him or am not listening.  So far, He has blessed me bountifully!  To such an extent that I can not fully grasp what He is indeed up to in my future.  But, I suspect it is another ministry, building upon my past as a teacher and a concern for the lost......  Although certainly God can bless us with running cars (I sort of broke GG's), shelter (I temporarily have with GG), other physical stuff (who really cares?), friends (I have discovered true gold in mine), peace (through a war zone), etc.  Yeah, as I have said before, the natural man sees disaster, but I see blessings and riches that natural man can not fathom.  Thank you Lord.....

Raising A Stink

Continuing my thoughts of my life in a crisis, being at a crossroad and still being effective for God to use.

John 12:4-8

The setting is important here: Jesus has joined Martha, Mary and Lazarus for a celebratory feast.  After-all, Lazarus has been resurrected from the grave!  Also in attendance, we know of, Simon the leper, and the disciples.  Of course, it could be the 12 or the 120, there was the inner circle and the greater circle whom hung with Jesus.  Lets go with 12 so that Lazarus was not going to be bankrupted here!

Love Jesus with all you have been given by God.  That should be:

• Heart
• Soul
• Mind 
• Strength

That would be by blessing someone else, with what you have been given.  It will be different for each of us and in for those we are to bless as well.  You might even have to model forgiveness and unconditional love!  Whom has heard of such a thing in this culture!  But, it might just be required of you.

Look for a stink to happen when your life smells good to God!
Oh yeah.  Mary (Miriam) anoints Jesus' feet with her tears and perfume valued at a years wage by a professional soldier!  Heap big bucks were just expended on a dead man walking and I think she knew it.

I am told that Nard smells like gardenia, personally I hate the smell of gardenia, but oh well that is just me.  In the ancient times that much would have been noticeable, if not overcoming in a small home filled with people.  And the smell would have lasted for days.  Remember Jesus is now entering his last week on Earth.  Lots of symbolism here.

But, Judas condemns her for the waste.  His greed is exposed to everyone whom hears.  Judas could have complained of her having let her hair down in public, much less before the Rabbi!  She was touching Jesus, tsk, tsk!  Etc.  Yeah he could of complained of much but he only went for the value of what had just been "wasted".  What would Jesus do?

How about first protecting her honor by reprimanding Judas and I dare say then she was to blessed for her sacrifice and honor given him.

Listen for the only opinion that counts.
Do you live to please God or others?
How many defended Mary (Miriam) here? Only Jesus did.
In reality it is only His opinion which counts.  "Leave her alone....." He said.

Do not let your critics stop you from your service or duty before God!
Be of service to God, invest your life in others, silence your critics!

Let the fragrance follow you.
You know Jesus reeked of gardenia through all of the last week of his life.  I have no doubt he raised a few eyebrows where ever he went!  The smell was known, the value was known, and this rag tag Rabbi just reeked of it.  Where do you imagine that amount of wealth came from?!?!?!?!

Make everything in your life a sweet smelling offering to Jesus, in spite of the critics in your life!

*********************************
So, I sit here, judged by my friends, by my church, by my elders, for having invested myself in others.  It does not help that Lucinda turned on me, believing she was saving her daughter, and got her to share tales.  I realized when I heard the words, that they were Lucinda's, not our shared daughter's (no, she is mine by adoption).  So, Kris carries with him a mighty stink at this time.

My defense is only the truth, which is unpopular because it is nowhere as juicy as the tales.  And when the critic ultimately calls upon Timothy, and Paul's admonishinon not to deal with females, I have to reply:

• I did what I was called to do
• I called upon females, in my life and church, to help and none would
• I called upon help from my church and it would not
• And no Christian doctrine is based upon a single verse
• So, Mr. Critic, your problem is exactly what?

Yeah, there is the rub.  Christians are quick to condemn, but really hate to realize that they are condemned by their own inaction, especially when those doing it are the very ones I called upon for help in the first place!  Doesn't stop them from condemning me - to their shame and eventual condemnation before God.

You see, God is blessing me, even as to the world's eyes I am getting exactly what I have coming.  He knows I have no value in possessions or wealth, I only cherish people.  Most of the people left my life long before this mess, because I was "stupid" in investing myself in a known problem, or believing Kris is having a mid-life crisis (he isn't, my mind is quite clear and there are no red sports cars in my future!).

So in spite of the critics in my personal life and in my church, I continue to do as told to do by God.  Which infuriates a few but oh well.  I have always been solely answerable to God and will continue to be as far as my actions and prayer life are concerned.  Yeah, I have often thought myself quite insane.  The more pressure put on me to recant my belief that I have done as God has asked, only recalls the picture of what a freed life looks like in the eyes of one whom suddenly realizes their freedom.  And so, my tasks, I have quietly removed from public view, but that in no ways means I have seen the light of truth from my critics - no, i just removed the temptation from them for further condemnations.  If it is of God, they will "know" miraculously, not from this blog, nor my life, what I am about, then I might listen.

And to the two whom love me, thank you for standing by me through what continues to be a tragedy.  Honestly, I think there might be a book in this .....  But, I would have to have it published as fiction, whom would believe ever believe this tale?

Seeing Jesus in the Crisis

Thinking on John 12:9-11, 17-19 in light of this past week.

The crowds gathered.  Rumors had it that someone, a guy named Lazarus, had been raised from the dead!  In the crowd were those whom had prepared him for burial, those whom carried this body to the tomb, those whom had rolled the rock into the opening of the grave, those whom had paid to mourned his death.  And he was actually alive?  You have got to be kidding!

Jesus came at Mary and Martha's request, not to heal Lazarus as asked, but to demonstrate that the day of the Kingdom of God was at hand.  Lazarus was to be exhibit A as to the power of God and the truth of Jesus.

1 Peter 2:9, we as Christians are a chosen people, a priesthood, we belong to God!
We exist to serve God and His purposes, not the other way around!

Do not drift from your faith!

How could anyone argue Lazarus' death and now new life?  Imagine the crowd, torn between joy, fascination, horror and shock!  Here was a dead man walking!  And the Rabbis equally were stunned.  How can you discredit or claim someone is of the devil when he just raised his friend from the dead?

Death had been conquered, Jesus had just shown the world that He had dominion, He was of God, His claims were true.

Critics will plague you your entire life - take heart, they can not keep you down or from your God assignment.

Beware, your life is never going to be neutral.

There is no witness protection program for Christians!  You have become the salt which adds flavoring to all around you.  You have become light, a witness for God, you will draw people to you!  (okay I skipped to 1st John there!)

Your life is permanently changed.
Your life is now a witness to the reality of the Real God.  And that would be for the good or bad.....
You life is suddenly a testimony to what God has done and can do.


You came to Jesus because you had a need: you stood in the way of what you needed to get to God.
Your accepting Jesus as the payment between mankind and God for our failure, changed your status.
Your willingness to be baptized and to become a follower, perhaps even a disciple, sets you a part.
Your life becomes your witness to a world lost in sin, not knowing where to look, observing if you are different.
And when bad times hit, how you react will either show that difference or that you are just like them.
So, let your life reflect Jesus and His love, in good times and bad.

And if you can, I know that God will lift you up from whatever is there to crush you.

*** so, as you have been reading, my life is now at a crossroads.  the past has been destroyed by my daughter.  the only salvation to my predicament would be for my daughter to show up in person and recant her tales.  but no that is not going to happen too soon, eventually, i do believe so, but not in time to save the shattered remains of my life.  my future is now unknown to me.  i only have faith, sharpened by a lifetime of seeing God's hand and knowing He is there to catch me in this free fall.  but he has blessed me with a kindred spirit to steady my feet as i step across to a whatever that new path is.  so with one old friend and one new friend there to help me restart life, we will see where things go.  maybe there is a book deal in this disaster..... ***

Loss of a Musketeer

It was October 1973, I became a Christian thanks to the efforts of a lady in my uncle's church.  Swedish Rocket Scientist did the same due to a random witness whom crossed his path in college.  His younger brother also separately had become a Christian through a radio ministry.  We were all baptized together.  Add Dutchman and there was now a foursome of trouble makers.  :)  Often accompanied by Dutchman and our cousins.  We have had quite a 39 year run!

Through the years we all stayed in touch.  We all supported one another in all ways.  We are a band of brothers.  Yes, you can pick your family.

From Rear: SRS, Sister, Ed.

Monday evening, I got the call we have all dreaded, the death of one of us.

It was Ed, the little brother of SRS.  SRS and his sister were in Olympia at a hospital where their lone relative was following another stroke.  SRS had just moved her there last week from the homeland so that she would be closer to him and his siblings.  So the police left a message on the sister's phone.

Of course, since that was all there was in the message, we had no idea what happened.  SRS was finally able to meet with the coroner Tuesday and it turned out he died of a heart attack while visiting a friend.  It is good he died with friends, but he may well have not even have known it.  Heart attacks are no my idea of a great way to go.....  But, his family has a long history of them, their father having his first at 53 and then the final one at 56.  Ed was 59.

Last Tuesday, Dutchman and Swede had met with me and discussed what to do about Ed.  He has been chronically under employed his entire life and with retirement rapidly approaching - well, what is he to do?  Thursday, SRS met with him to discuss this.  Nothing was settled and SRS left him with things to think about.  That was the last any of us heard from him.

If you would be in prayer for strength for what is left of their family through this hard time, it would be appreciated.  And pray for consciousness for Ellie, the aunt, with a chance to witness yet again to her and for her to choose wisely.