1111

1111- What the heck is this all about? My partner Cheryl and I have been seeing 1111 in some form of fashion for years. She well before I. The clock, the car, the computer, phone conversations lasting 11min 11 seconds, chalk boards, newspapers, cash receipts... The list goes on. I actually have a collection of 1111 things. We bought a 1/2 gallon jar of olives for a party. We got home and the lid read that it was packed at 1111. The UPS driver tried to deliver a package at 11:11. We know because they left a message on the door. I drove to the wrong house once...the address was 1111. I needed to go one block over. The e-mergency packet a friend at work gave me has 1111% of the daily recommended dose of vitamin C. The phone rings at 11:11 all the time. It's usually Cheryl. Our daughter's birth date 5+2+4=11 Her weight 4+7=11 She was small.... the circumference of her head and her length = 11. It goes on. Our wedding date 0+8+1+0+0+2=11. I suppose if you add the other 2 in 2002 it is 14, but then you have to add the time of the wedding and that was 6 and 1+4+6=11. I guess what I am saying is that this isn't coincidence. I have read many things about what it means and the best one I can come up with is the universe tapping us on the shoulder. By the way....Don't forget that we are all one or 1. Just 1111 Quantum physics and Plankes theory tells us that we are all, at the VERY core of existence, at the very deepest level, connected. I believe that we are and this is how praying for another person works even when they don't know you're praying. Our very own energy is able to effect the atoms around us sending out a message to the other person's atoms around them that there is good energy coming their way.
For anyone who thinks that this is heretical thinking isn't remembering who it was that made this universe and all the laws of physics that govern it. God made everything and then connected it all at the atomic level so that we could have the power of God at our finger tips. We just don't remember that we know this. How do you think faith healing works? The Power of God to effect the physical realm through the unseen. Jesus walked on water. Do you suppose he knew the secret that it's all one?

Changing Perspectives

You know there are so many times in our lives that we come to pivital points and make decisions that change everything. Or we discover things about ourselves or those around us that refocus the way we see things in our lives. Take having a child as an example. My Partner and I just adopted a gorgeous little girl who will just make your heart melt. No one could have told me how MUCH my life would change at the very moment she took her first breath. EVERYTHING changed. My life is no longer my own. I live to see her and touch her and hold her close. I would die to see her smile if that was what it would take. Instead I sing "99 Bottles of Milk on the Wall" and that does the trick. I make a fool of myself for her. Not that I didn't before, but now I have a reason. When someone told me that my life would be different, I thought, ' I'm sure it will.' HA! I listened, but I had no capcity to hear. Come to find out it was more than a change, it was a complete undoing and rebuilding and the construction is still occurring. When someone used to say, "Unless you have a child, you can't understand." I was insulted and yes damn it I do understand. Again, HA. No I didn't and no you can't either unless you have a child.

I have a new and profound appreciation for my own mother who raised five of us. 5 CINCO FIVE. That was another thing you could have said. 'You won't really love your mother until you have children of your own.' Now I did love my mother, but now that love comes with understanding of a sacrifice that I had no comprehension of before that. Mothers give up everything for their children....well not everything. I still work and I still love to play on my computer, but now I go to work keeping in mind that baby needs diapers. I sit at the computer while she plays with the keys.
I see my friendships differently and unfortunately they are divided into who loves my child and who doesn't. That maybe harsh, but the ones who have children and who love children see the world through similar glasses now.
We see with baby goggles.

Blood or No Blood?

Yes ladies and germs- It's been a very long time and yet it seems that nothing changes and yet it changes all the time. It's confusing.
I was talking with my partner to other day about our church. We have a nice little church that we go to that could drive you nuts if you think too hard about it. The pastor is awesome! I will give it that. We have made great friends! I'll give it that. But it is SERIOUSLY lacking in passion for Christ. Christ is the corner stone and yet He gets treated as another brick in the wall sometimes. I have run into people who are more interested in politics and making sure that you are on the correct side of the political line than they are interested in who Christ is and exactly what a relationship with Him means. It bugs me some days. We talk a lot about "God", but are afraid to mention the name of Jesus so that we don't offend the people who came who are not Christians. Now, Steve is good about talking the Jesus talk, but not in that 'we all need to learn about who this man in " kind of way. Maybe this is how most 'middle of the road' churches are. It's odd. This is what I would call a 'liberal' church in it's ideals and yet the worship and service is SOOOO middle of the road old fashioned that it creaks. Old Methodist and Presbyterian services from 100yrs ago. Sure the music is upbeat...but the service isn't.
You see, I have a passion for Christ! I have a deep down love and appreciation for His sacrifice. It makes me want to jump and shout. It makes me want to raise my hands and thank God for it all!
Here is an example. We were actually having a debate at music practice the other night as to whether or not we could sing about the "Blood Of Jesus" it might offend people. Excuse me? Isn't that part of the reason we follow Christ? Isn't His sacrifice the example of our actions? Isn't the resurrection and the power therof what we seek to attain? Paul said "I want to know nothing except Christ Crucified and the POWER of His resurrection." How do we have a resurrection without the crucifixion? How are we washed clean with the blood if there is no blood? Jesus in Mark 14:24 says "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them." The blood covenant. How can this happen without the Blood?
Ah well, let's not offend anyone with Jesus, shall we not?

A lot to thnk about

I'm not too great at having anything profound to say, but I'll try. I gave the 'lesson' at ITL two weeks ago and here was the topic for discussion. "Why do bad things happen to Good People?"
A thought just this very moment came to me as I was typing that. What makes us think we're good? I' mean think about it. If this is a fallen world and all of our 'good works' are as filthy rags in the eyes of God...what makes us think we're so very good and deserving of good things. Now I know what you 'graceies' are going to say...God is good all the time. We are all offered the same grace as the next guy. Yadayada! This is what I say to that...God is God perfect in all ways. Perfectly just. Pefectly balanced. Bad things happen and God lets them happen. Why? Because He is smarter than we are. That's why. Bad things happen because this is not aworld controled by God.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOO that is blasphemey! Well, not really, God let's men control their own actions. People are dying in Africa at astounding rates because bad men run the governments. And no matter how much money we throw at the problem, bad men will make it of no effect. Children are abused because evil people are abusive.
It all started in the beginning and it's been happening ever since. Evil happens so that free will can exist. Illness and death are a result of contamination. This is a broken and contaminated world and illness is not choosy about its victim. Young, old, healthy, weak, male and female. Shit happens!
I had an interesting conversation with an agnostic one time and she said why doesn't God stop all of this if 'it' exisits. I said, "If He/She did then free will would have to disappear and we would be slaves." "Well, why doesn't God listen and answer our prayers?" Now that's a tough one. I do believe that God answers prayers in God's time and in God's resoning. I also believe that Maybe...just maybe...you might have to believe in God in some way to have it happen. Granted, some people have more of an 'in' with God, but in the long run I think on some level you have to say "yes" there is something bigger than me. AND we can't ask for world peace becasue it will never happen as long as free will is part of the plan. Men don't like to be peaceful. We like to be jealous and mean and scared and power hungry and angry. We like to take advantage of others for our own good.
See?
Bad things happen because we are a free group of evil people. Don't blame it on God. Take a look in the mirror.

It's been too long!

I am not as liberal as I would appear. I have differing views on social programs and fiscal responsibility. HOWEVER, I think both sides of the fence are not without 'sin'.
As far as marriage goes, I think that less and less has to do with whether it works or not. More and more I think it has to do with societal norms. Everyone (okay 50% of everyone) gets divorced. I think that stat is low because fewer people are getting married and yet still producing families that eventually break apart. I know very few people who have not been divorced. I want to know where the other half of this 50% are!
Serial Monogamy and the Lesbian. That is such a loaded title. Women are so much different than men and yet we are not..........it just takes us longer to sleep with someone else. Men can do it in a night....women take two years. I think it comes attached to the Lesbian gene that and the U-Haul Syndrome. Seriously though, women become attached very quickly and fail to go through any courting rituals or engagement periods. I really believe that the only reason my partner and I have stayed together is because I was in New Zealand for a year after we had only been seeing each other for seven months. We were apart long enough to get to really know each other. Trust me, long distance relationships can work as long as there is an end in sight. When I came to know Christ I gave my sexuality and relationships to Him and I was single for almost 4 years. For me that was unheard of. I was never out of a relationship for more than a week. If someone broke my heart I was ready to patch it up with a new lover. With that mind set of never wanting to be alone, I constantly chose anything and everything that was available to me. None of which was healthy. JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO BE ALONE. Isn't that the reason we do these things instead of waiting for God to bring that one person to us that would give us the best chance at longterm relationship? So what am I trying to say in all of this?

I think society almost expects divorce. Thus it makes it so very easy to break up and not work to stay together. We leave if we're not happy about the toothpaste cap or the way the other person breathes.
Answer these questions:

Do you have to tools to make it work?
Do you know enough about how the other person views the world around them?
Are you willing to find out instead of thinking about yourself all the time?
It takes both parties to want a healing.
Got it?