Thursday 19 November 2015

Didn't see this coming ....

Do you ever think there might be something wrong with you?
No?
Oh than there really is something wrong with you.
For real.

All “normal” people have those times when they think to themselves “what’s wrong with me? am I crazy? am I losing my mind? this can’t be normal, can it?
for all you “normal” people, I have good news: nothing is wrong with you, well nothing that’s not wrong with a couple billion other humans; no you are not crazy, well most of you, some of you are legitimately insane, you should get that checked out; yeah probably, but don’t be to worried about it I have found that it has a way of coming home to you, sooner or later; yes yes yes it can be, that’s what i’ve been trying to tell you: you are totally normal, well relatively, because who gets to decide what’s normal anyways?

its like those magazine blurbs that label what’s “hot and not,” who are these people, that they have the audacity to decide for the 7 billion people on the plant what’s “hot and not”?
I quite frankly think it’s kinda rude. Like who the f- do you think you are? God!?

Oh nooo, you do, you think you are God!
That’s a problem.

Actually I think that’s like a Western twenty-first century world problem, we all think we are gods.

Never mind the fact that we have never actually done anything really truly “god-like”…
when’s the last time you created a universe? or how about just a tree? I’m not talking about the time you planted an avocado pit and after months of watering it and singing to it it sprouted. I’m talking about from scratch, like Jamie Oliver style, but even more hardcore than that because you don’t even get to start with all the fresh organic ingredients to make you pasta, you have to make the fresh organic ingredients from nothing, nada, out of thin air, actually there might not even be air!

Or what about this one, when’s the last time you controlled the weather? The weather person’s inability to even consistently and accurately predict the weather is ample evidence for me that we have no control over the weather. Yeah I know what you’re thinking, what about Storm? OK stupid, Storm is not a real person, neither are any of the X people or the superheroes. But this obsession with superhero and genetically altered super humans makes a my next point for me…

we are obsessed with being gods, we create fairy tales about humans being "god-like," even if we know they are not real, we thrive on the maybe just maybe …

no.
never.
you will never be God.
never.

But Maria …
We are independent people!
See this world we live in
we made it
see this life we’re rockin'
we made it
we depend on us
All the people who are independent
Throw your hands up at me
All the peps who makin' money
Throw your hands up at me
All the homies who profit dollas
Throw your hands up at me
All ya’ll who truly feel me
Throw your hands up at me!

nope. not true.

Then God spoke:
“Why do you confuse the issue?
    Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?
Pull yourself together!
    Up on your feet! Stand tall!
I have some questions for you,
    and I want some straight answers.
Where were you when I created the earth?
    Tell me, since you know so much!
Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!
    Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
How was its foundation poured,
    and who set the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus
    and all the angels shouted praise?
And who took charge of the ocean
    when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
    and tucked it in safely at night.
Then I made a playpen for it,
    a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,
And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
    Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’
“And have you ever ordered Morning, ‘Get up!’
    told Dawn, ‘Get to work!’
So you could seize Earth like a blanket
    and shake out the wicked like cockroaches?
As the sun brings everything to light,
    brings out all the colors and shapes,
The cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked—
    they’re caught in the very act!
“Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things,
    explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean?
Do you know the first thing about death?
    Do you have one clue regarding death’s dark mysteries?
And do you have any idea how large this earth is?
    Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer.
“Do you know where Light comes from
    and where Darkness lives
So you can take them by the hand
    and lead them home when they get lost?
Why, of course you know that.
    You’ve known them all your life,
    grown up in the same neighborhood with them!
“Have you ever traveled to where snow is made,
    seen the vault where hail is stockpiled,
The arsenals of hail and snow that I keep in readiness
    for times of trouble and battle and war?
Can you find your way to where lightning is launched,
    or to the place from which the wind blows?
Who do you suppose carves canyons
    for the downpours of rain, and charts
    the route of thunderstorms
That bring water to unvisited fields,
    deserts no one ever lays eyes on,
Drenching the useless wastelands
    so they’re carpeted with wildflowers and grass?
And who do you think is the father of rain and dew,
    the mother of ice and frost?
You don’t for a minute imagine
    these marvels of weather just happen, do you?
“Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters,
    or distract Orion from his hunt?
Can you get Venus to look your way,
    or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play?
Do you know the first thing about the sky’s constellations
    and how they affect things on Earth?
“Can you get the attention of the clouds,
    and commission a shower of rain?
Can you take charge of the lightning bolts
    and have them report to you for orders?
“Who do you think gave weather-wisdom to the ibis,
    and storm-savvy to the rooster?
Does anyone know enough to number all the clouds
    or tip over the rain barrels of heaven
When the earth is cracked and dry,
    the ground baked hard as a brick?
“Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey
    and satisfy the appetite of her cubs
As they crouch in their den,
    waiting hungrily in their cave?
And who sets out food for the ravens
    when their young cry to God,
    fluttering about because they have no food?”
“Do you know the month when mountain goats give birth?
    Have you ever watched a doe bear her fawn?
Do you know how many months she is pregnant?
    Do you know the season of her delivery,
    when she crouches down and drops her offspring?
Her young ones flourish and are soon on their own;
    they leave and don’t come back.
“Who do you think set the wild donkey free,
    opened the corral gates and let him go?
I gave him the whole wilderness to roam in,
    the rolling plains and wide-open places.
He laughs at his city cousins, who are harnessed and harried.
    He’s oblivious to the cries of teamsters.
He grazes freely through the hills,
    nibbling anything that’s green.
“Will the wild buffalo condescend to serve you,
    volunteer to spend the night in your barn?
Can you imagine hitching your plow to a buffalo
    and getting him to till your fields?
He’s hugely strong, yes, but could you trust him,
    would you dare turn the job over to him?
You wouldn’t for a minute depend on him, would you,
    to do what you said when you said it?
“The ostrich flaps her wings futilely—
    all those beautiful feathers, but useless!
She lays her eggs on the hard ground,
    leaves them there in the dirt, exposed to the weather,
Not caring that they might get stepped on and cracked
    or trampled by some wild animal.
She’s negligent with her young, as if they weren’t even hers.
    She cares nothing about anything.
She wasn’t created very smart, that’s for sure,
    wasn’t given her share of good sense.
But when she runs, oh, how she runs,
    laughing, leaving horse and rider in the dust.
“Are you the one who gave the horse his prowess
    and adorned him with a shimmering mane?
Did you create him to prance proudly
    and strike terror with his royal snorts?
He paws the ground fiercely, eager and spirited,
    then charges into the fray.
He laughs at danger, fearless,
    doesn’t shy away from the sword.
The banging and clanging
    of quiver and lance don’t faze him.
He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blast
    races off at a gallop.
At the sound of the trumpet he neighs mightily,
    smelling the excitement of battle from a long way off,
    catching the rolling thunder of the war cries.
“Was it through your know-how that the hawk learned to fly,
    soaring effortlessly on thermal updrafts?
Did you command the eagle’s flight,
    and teach her to build her nest in the heights,
Perfectly at home on the high cliff face,
    invulnerable on pinnacle and crag?
From her perch she searches for prey,
    spies it at a great distance.
Her young gorge themselves on carrion;
    wherever there’s a roadkill, you’ll see her circling.”

“Now what do you have to say for yourself?
    Are you going to haul me, the Mighty One, into court and press charges?”
“I have some more questions for you,
    and I want straight answers.
“Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong?
    Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?
Do you have an arm like my arm?
    Can you shout in thunder the way I can?
Go ahead, show your stuff.
    Let’s see what you’re made of, what you can do.
Unleash your outrage.
    Target the arrogant and lay them flat.
Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees.
    Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them!
Dig a mass grave and dump them in it—
    faceless corpses in an unmarked grave.
I’ll gladly step aside and hand things over to you—
    you can surely save yourself with no help from me!
“Look at the land beast, Behemoth. I created him as well as you.
    Grazing on grass, docile as a cow—
Just look at the strength of his back,
    the powerful muscles of his belly.
His tail sways like a cedar in the wind;
    his huge legs are like beech trees.
His skeleton is made of steel,
    every bone in his body hard as steel.
Most magnificent of all my creatures,
    but I still lead him around like a lamb!
The grass-covered hills serve him meals,
    while field mice frolic in his shadow.
He takes afternoon naps under shade trees,
    cools himself in the reedy swamps,
Lazily cool in the leafy shadows
    as the breeze moves through the willows.
And when the river rages he doesn’t budge,
    stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild.
But you’d never want him for a pet—
    you’d never be able to housebreak him!”
“Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod
    and stuff him in your creel?
Can you lasso him with a rope,
    or snag him with an anchor?
Will he beg you over and over for mercy,
    or flatter you with flowery speech?
Will he apply for a job with you
    to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?
Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish?
    Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
Will you put him on display in the market
    and have shoppers haggle over the price?
Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion,
    or drive harpoons into his huge head?
If you so much as lay a hand on him,
    you won’t live to tell the story.
What hope would you have with such a creature?
    Why, one look at him would do you in!
If you can’t hold your own against his glowering visage,
    how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
Who could confront me and get by with it?
    I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!
“But I’ve more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast,
    his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.
Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin
    or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?
And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth
    filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
His pride is invincible;
    nothing can make a dent in that pride.
Nothing can get through that proud skin—
    impervious to weapons and weather,
The thickest and toughest of hides,
    impenetrable!
“He snorts and the world lights up with fire,
    he blinks and the dawn breaks.
Comets pour out of his mouth,
    fireworks arc and branch.
Smoke erupts from his nostrils
    like steam from a boiling pot.
He blows and fires blaze;
    flames of fire stream from his mouth.
All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle.
    To meet him is to dance with death.
Sinewy and lithe,
    there’s not a soft spot in his entire body—
As tough inside as out,
    rock-hard, invulnerable.
Even angels run for cover when he surfaces,
    cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.
Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide,
    harpoons ricochet wildly.
Iron bars are so much straw to him,
    bronze weapons beneath notice.
Arrows don’t even make him blink;
    bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling;
    he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.
His belly is armor-plated, inexorable—
    unstoppable as a barge.
He roils deep ocean the way you’d boil water,
    he whips the sea like you’d whip an egg into batter.
With a luminous trail stretching out behind him,
    you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!
There’s nothing on this earth quite like him,
    not an ounce of fear in that creature!
He surveys all the high and mighty—
    king of the ocean, king of the deep!”

Then Job spoke:
“I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me.
    I should never have opened my mouth!
I’ve talked too much, way too much.
    I’m ready to shut up and listen.”
“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
    Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
    ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
    made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
    Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
    now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
    I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”
(Job 38-42)

We should all take a page out of the book of Job and repeat after him:
“I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me.
    I should never have opened my mouth!
I’ve talked too much, way too much.
    I’m ready to shut up and listen.”
“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
    Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
    ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
    made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
    Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
    now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
    I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

Bet you didn’t see this rant ending this way!? Well me neither actually …


Tuesday 1 September 2015

No thoughts

Good morning,

I have no thoughts to offer you this morning, only the path that the Spirit led me on this morning...

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. (Genesis 18:27)

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)


"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,

your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us this day our daily bread,
 and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:7-14)

Amen

Friday 28 August 2015

What the!?

This morning as I was going through my morning routine, well more like stumbling though it as I had yet to have coffee, when out of no where (well likely not no where, more likely it came from the deep recesses of my heart, or God, or both, anyway where it came from isn't whats important but what came…) “I need to journal.” And since it had been over 2 months since I have even looked at my journal (it use to be the best part of my morning, well that and coffee, praise the good Lord in Heaven for coffee!) I thought back “yeah OK, I think i can fit in some journaling.” That is a long explanation, I don’t know about you, but for me sometimes it just feels good to ramble …

OK focus Maria!

First line (after the date and Dear Father God,) …

I hurt. I’m sad. Please send help.

That’s dramatic! (if you know me at all you’ll know I am prone to the dramatic.)

So I made a list of all the beautiful people in my life, who fill my life with meaning and joy, I made a list of the things I am passionate about… 

And that got me thinking…

Do you ever feel discouraged and disappointed, because you look around at your life and you think “what the!!!?? This isn't how things were suppose to turn out!”?

Sure you have, we all have (I bet you even Beyonce at one point or another has thought to her self “OK this isn’t going the way I had hoped.”).

Although we all experience times of disappointment, some of more then others due to life circumstances and personality (and i’m sure other things that I don’t even know about).

As I was bewailing my disappointment two thoughts came to mind…

“Who made you the boss?”

And “How do you know how things were suppose to turn out?”

Aaahh, good point.

This might be the point were you check out (if you didn’t earlier as I rambled…) but just wait encouragement is coming, I promise, just stick with me for a few more moments…

Step One (I need clear instructions, so I like steps, they simplify things for me): 

"… pour out your heart before God, for God cares …" (paraphrased Psalm 62:8)

Step Two: Take a step back, shut up, listen and get some perspective…

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?..." (Job 38: 4-7, but if you have time read 38-41)

OK that’s sobering. Yet the next passages that came to mind reminded me that …

Step Three: Be reminded that God is for us!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11)

I know that this verse is not to us, but I believe it is for us, and it is theme of Scripture, again…

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28)

So there you have it folks! 

Aaahh what do we have exactly?

Well... a three step program to get over yourself…

I think. 

Hey I found it fairly helpful, maybe give it a try, and let the Lord lead you, I’m sure God has other ways that will encourage you, you just need to take some time to pay attention…

Friday 29 May 2015

Torment

This morning I sat down to journal with the Lord for the first time in a little while and the first words that came to the page were:

Me: Father God, I need you
God: I AM right here daughter.
Me: Amen, may that be the truth.
God: Why do you need Me right here?
Me: Because my life doesn’t make sense without you.
God: Bur you know I AM always with you right?
Me: Yeah, but there is a difference from knowing in my head and knowing in my being, in my heart, in the way I breath, speak, spend, laugh, play, work…

Then the next thoughts that came seem somewhat unrelated, but bear with me and I will attempt to make a connection…

Do not be anxious about anything, what you will eat or wear or where you will sleep! Instead with thanksgiving, praise and supplication offer up all your requests and a peace that surpasses all understanding will fall upon you! 

That is my version of Jesus’ words from Matthew 6, combined with Paul’s words from Philippians 4.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6: 25-34)

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 4-7)

As you can see my version is a little off, but it has the same spirit behind it. DO NOT WORRY, DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING!

You may be asking, what really anything!? But I have this huge paper due, i have bills that I can’t pay, my mother has cancer, how can you tell me not be anxious, not to worry? That is not fair, it’s not possible.

My worries and anxieties are fairly light but never the less I am being disobedient by worry6ing, I am saying to God you are not good or big enough to take care of me, you don’t love me enough to take care of me…

Worrying and being anxious is a problem because it is being disobedient, but this morning I was reflecting not that maybe that’s not the most important thing, that its being disobedient, rather maybe we need to think about the promise that comes with not being anxious, not worrying…

“the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

What!? I can give away my worries and anxieties, hand them over to my Father God with rejoicing, thanksgiving, prayer and supplication (earnestly and humbly) and receive peace that will protect my emotions and thoughts from the torment of worries and anxieties! 

This is HUGE people! HUGE! 

OK so I promised you a connection…

I have been feeling a distance from God in my emotions and in my thoughts, because I have not been giving over to Him on a daily, regular bases in rejoicing, thanksgiving, prayer and supplication (earnestly and humbly) my worries and anxieties … I have been allowing my worries and anxieties torment me, rather than receiving the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!

Amen!

What about you? Are you being tormented? Do you stay up late at night worrying? Do you feel sick to stomach with anxiety and dread? This is not a magical formal, it is about having a relationship, a two way communication with your Heavenly Father who loves you dearly and wants to guard you with his peace.

Tuesday 28 April 2015

The Harsh, Ugly, Painful Truth

“And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.” (Jeremiah 45:5 (ESV))

Don’t seek great things? I am bringing disaster upon all flesh!? What!? That’s a little harsh don't you think? But then he says “I will give you your life…” OK what is this all about?

Now of course there is a greater context to this verse, but I am not going to explore it at this point. Instead I am going to share with you my mediation on it…

When I read this verse this morning two New Testament passages came to my mind:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven […] Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life […] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:19-33)

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

What do these three passages have in common? Well, the link I made this morning was: 

Seeking not the things of this world, that in the end will be destroyed, and instead first seek the Kingdom, give up what I want for and in my life, instead go full-on for what God has placed in my life, trusting not only that he will give me life but that in this abandonment of my life is where I will find true life, life to the fullest! As Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

I asked myself, and I ask you “What am I seeking? caught up in? holding on to? not trusting God for?”

The first thought that came to my mind made my cringe a little, because I thought, “Oh gosh, really is everything about this!?” But alas if I am striving to be an honest and vulnerable writer I must share the somewhat embarrassing truth that yes the first thing that came to my mind when I asked “What am I seeking? caught up in? holding on to? not trusting God for?” was: 

A husband and a family. 

Not that these are negative things to want, by no means! They are beautiful and I think God given desires… but never the less in the passage related to the above Matthew passage Jesus says 

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10: 37-38)

This can be a somewhat complicated passage to understand, but how I understood it this morning in relation to my desire for a husband and a family, is that I am loving and desiring for a husband more than I am for Jesus, sure I love Jesus and I want to follow him with my whole life, but I want a husband and a family to be a part of that life, and the fact that they aren't makes me angry towards God as I feel that he is withholding something from me, I feel that he is in that regard withholding the fullness of life from me, I do not trust that without a husband and a family  I can have a full life following Jesus…

That is the harsh, ugly, painful truth.

As I briefly explored my desire for a husband and a family I discovered that my underlining desires are to be loved, seen and heard, valued and appreciated, supported and cared for, and my fear is that I will be alone. 

I believe these are all totally legitimate desires and fears, in fact I think this is how we are hardwired, to be in relation not only with God but also with other people, as “the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone’” (Genesis 2:18). I think that we are created to have some of these desires meet in relation with others…

Though “others” might not necessarily mean a husband and children. Maybe it means a rich and full community life. But that is a bigger conversation than I want to get into at the moment.

I will end with the question I asked of the Lord:

“Lord, how do I give up my desire for a husband?”

I felt him say to me:

“You don’t Maria, you give up the need to fulfill it…”

Me: “Huh?”

Him: “You stop trying to fill yourself and trust, as you seek first my Kingdom I will fulfill you, I will give you a full and abundant life.”

Me: “OK, makes sense, take my eyes off the wrong ‘prize’ and instead focus on the Way, the Truth, and the Life (aka Jesus, see John 14:6).”

Do you have anything you’re caught up in? Not trusting God for? Do you have anything you want more then Jesus? That you are seeking before the Kingdom?

No? I am the only one? Come on be honest, I am not even asking you to share it with the cyber world, just be honest with yourself before God, he already knows anyhow, and being honest, confession is the first step towards the full and abundant life Jesus came to offer you and me! Amen!

So let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).