Embrace the Within no. 9

“It may not be your fault but it is still your problem.” Embrace the Within.

The Lord does work in mysterious ways. You never quite know what to expect out of life despite having so many plans, ideas, and goals. I always seem to have a plan for my benefit BUT God has a plan that works out for everyone’s benefit. And I know that sometimes that plan that God has does not seem to be for our benefit or anyone else’s benefit. I know that I have trouble seeing the plan and how God’s plan is better than my plan. And then I sit back and think about the audacity of that thought. The audacity to question God and the plan.

I know what it’s like when I, with all my limitations and weakness, put together a plan that is questioned by other humans and then sit back and consider how imperfect my plan has to be compared to the time and detail put into any plan God has conceived and implemented. And that does give me pause to consider the audacity to think I could do anything better. You need look no further than my past track record to easily prove that I cannot do any better. I can do alright. I can get by. My plans are passable. BUT there is not, by any means of imagination, a chance I can do better for my life or the life of others than God’s plan. And I think that is a huge stumbling block for folks because we are so into our plans. Or maybe I am just into my plans. Maybe folks don’t have plans. Sometimes I question that as well BUT I am sure they have dreams and hopes and wishes.

Anyways, looking back over the time from March 2020 when the agents of state shut everything down and I started a new plan, I am totally in awe at where I am today. And I am nowhere without God’s plan for my life that I did not see back then. Then I was upset at a wrasslin show being canceled and scared that food was going to be a problem. And now, I have a garden and livestock and a firm grasp on my life. I mean I even grew tomatoes this year and that, in itself, always feels like something miraculous.

I have come a long way from those fourteen days ago in 2020 where I had no God on my radar and no plan for tomorrow. I grew up a lot more in these past three years than in all the four and a half decades prior. And that in itself is quite the mystery. Going forward, I look forward and eagerly await the new changes and challenges and destinations of this journey that I could have never planned or foreseen because the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Peace to your home. Bless your being. The reign of God is now. Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyNepheshMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin

Embrace the Within no. 8

“You can’t outsource freedom.”

Embrace the Within.

I don’t think I am the only one struggling with people and their misconceptions of Christiainity. It seems like there are a lot of wrong ideas out there. A lot of fake news about what Christians believe and what kind of character constitutes being a Christian. Those are great opportunities for you and I to be an active participant in our faith.As Sir Francis Bacon states in his essay On Studies:

“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing

an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need

have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a

present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much

cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.”

And this quote can apply well to my Christian walk since reading, conversation, and writing help strengthen my understanding and readiness to share the truth with others.

I can’t get away from reading The Bible. That just isn’t a possibility. And this year I undertook reading everything in The Bible and books that are in some versions and not in others and reading everything in its entirety to get a personal understanding of scripture. And there is no substitute for reading and studying on your own. I think so often folks are used to the regimented public education model of teaching where the student learns from lecture by the teacher. I really hate that model and I rarely lecture about anything in my classroom. And anything that starts as a lecture needs to have conversation. We can only internalize information by reading the information on our own and forming our own opinions based upon our own life experiences. Those opinions and understandings are guided, as Christians, through God as we look at the actions of followers over the course of time in diverse places and different cultures. I have to take what happened in the past and in a very different place and apply those instructions to my experience today. And I am never going to be able to do that without reading the scripture myself. I cannot take anyone else’s word for what is there or how it applies to my life.

The conversation part is equally important. I only get better at understanding my faith and relationship with God by talking about it with others. And it doesn’t matter if they are Christians or not. The conversation is about crafting my own understanding into a message that is beneficial to myself and others. Conversation is a way of developing a healthy understanding of what I know and what I do not know. Understanding is not an argument BUT it can be disagreement that pushes me back into The Bible and back into study and reflection. I am not here to argue doctrine and faith and belief. I am here to present doctrine and faith and belief and allow others to make their own choices. There is nothing coercive involved in conversation.

And the writing part is why I am here daily. Getting the thoughts and understanding and conversations and revelations down into writing helps get me a better and more exact idea of what I believe. Finding the right words and knowing the foundations of those ideas that I gained through reading and conversation come together in this medium for a broader and defined picture. The more writing I perform about my readings and conversations, the more defined and refined my ideas become to myself and others.

Are you full, ready, and exact?

Peace to your home. Bless your being. The reign of God is now. Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyNepheshMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin