Dear Bobby. . .

Image by relandee via Flickr

Reland1
10/21/2008 10:06 AM PT

Bobby, so very glad to hear feedback and I hope to have you as a friend! In all sincerity, I am not "religious"...but do have a personal relationship with Jesus. By reading other chapters of the journal, you will see that coming to this relationship was very difficult.

God did not give man the nature "to murder pillage and rape ourselves out of existence ". If He had, we would have already done so! God gave us the gift of free will. Thus, against his good advice, Adam and Eve chose to introduce a "sinful nature" to their lineage.

Would a loving, all-knowing, benevolent God have created man without the ability to choose? This is the question all men must answer. Even a squirrel chooses to cross a road at the wrong time. Right?

God did not want robots to do "His will". He created us to be intelligent, thoughtful, and loving people. A people to live and interact with Him for eternity, able to make mistakes and learn from our flawed characters. He sent His perfect Son as an example of what we can be.

God, in the body of Jesus, had all the flaws and weaknesses known to mankind. He was tempted, scorned, and abused, as we are. But, He overcame all, to show us it can be done. Mankind must learn that every action taken, every word spoken, receives a reaction in kind. Those who learn that His will . . ."will be done", will enjoy everlasting life with the Father.

Are we perfect? No. Will we be perfected? Yes. Someday. We will have eternity to learn. We will rule and reign with Christ, having learned from the mistakes of the rulers of our past.

It is my sincere hope that your search for peace leads you through the straight and narrow gate to our Savior, Jesus Christ. This world we are in is indeed wicked, but it will not always be so.

May God always be with you my friend,

Reland

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"P" and Me . . .

"P" and Me . . .

Most of us at sometime or another have felt the impulse to jot down a few profound thoughts or were prompted by a fellow salad-bar survivor to do so. In the minority are those that truly consider such a specious suggestion as being an actual possibility. If the thought is pondered more than a second or two the audacity of such a monumental task will often cause failure from the git-go.

We recall those daunting essays in junior high school; the “What I Did Last Summer”, or “My Favorite Pet” stories. Two-hundred words or more about nothing when punctuation and spelling actually counted was a pretty tough assignment, even back then. I remember being assaulted by waves of cybernetic tummy toxins invariably arriving the evening before the assigned paper was due. Racking the brain, staring at a few pitiful words flagrantly scrawled across the mostly void sheet of loose leaf, all of my gray matter would be focused on “How to Be Sick Tomorrow.”

For many years my maxim in life has been “one should never do today what one can delay until tomorrow.” And my old buddy, “Procrastination” has always backed me up; one hundred percent of the time. Ah…yes! Slumming with the “Big P” is mastering the art and science of self-rescue by haphazardly mapping the shortest escape route; being routinely assisted by dogmatic selection processes within a selfish society which offers the spurious safety of disproportionate self-esteem. This society freely and without reserve, distributes its own politically correct assessment of one’s work.

My most dependable buddy “P” and I have hidden under a bushel basket of lame excuses while hugging memory ravaging delays as we smooched the cold cheek of our own impotence. Somewhere between the bloom and harvest I fell in love with the idea of wasting time. “P” and I have spent most of our time peeling another day, slicing through another month, and sectioning another year from the fruit of “my life.”

Until this day . . . Of course, you don’t know if it really is today, do you? Only “P” and I know that for sure!

Today, I send my old friend dawdling off whichever way he decides to go. I will use the dividing knife of time to prepare for you, a “real life” story; a beggarly buffet for public consumption. I intend to skin, slice, and bare my inner core in a wholly communal manner before my entire yield of fruit, seed and all, is devoured by “shouldn’t, couldn’t, can’t,” or “won’t”. Let the juice splash where it may!

It is my conviction, that even the slightest therapeutic value of spilling the contents of one’s anemic soul, of dumping one’s tiny puddle of tears and laughter into the immense polluted river of jettisoned journals and orphaned opinions must be reason enough to consider launching a pig. I invite you who may have fallen too soon, or maybe too far from the tree; some who may be bruised, slightly soft in places; those whom have observed the firmest more colorful and tasty fruit being chosen, while inadvertently you fell to the bottom of the barrel, please join me as I catapult from the author’s launch pad! I just have to see if this piglet will fly!

All of us have or will suffer tragedy in our lifetimes. The way in which we accept or refuse to accept these moments will determine the fullness of each of our lives. Will we struggle with anger, bitterness and hatred? Or will those we love, those we encounter see the larger picture of love, charity and forgiveness that is possible?

Casting “P” aside, my hope is that some will embrace this story as it is intended “a help in time of need”.

"PIGS FLYING ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH"

book coming soon!

Much Given . . . Much Required

“Duliece, if there was one thing you could change in your life . . . what would it be?”

Always missing the presence of two children, and both parents; considering the tragedy and brutality of their deaths and how difficult those times had been . . . recalling the sinful life led in my youth . . . I carefully answered : “I would change nothing.”

My boss looked at me in disbelief, shook his head . . . and walked away. Inwardly smiling, I thought of the many, many blessings I had received in my lifetime. I silently thanked God for giving me the correct, but no doubt confounding answer. To the materialistic, secular mind and heart, God's answers sound foolish. But one must consider all the facts, causes and effects, and possible outcomes, to even think about altering the history of one life. I would not assume the responsibility of changing a single moment in time.

Without loss . . . there can be no gain . . . without failure . . . no success. Without giving . . . none can receive . . . without forgiving . . . there is no forgiveness. For every action, there is a reaction . . . this is an undisputed, universal rule that applies in every circumstance and in every life. Reflection on the past is prudent, if one is to acquire wisdom for the future . . . else there is no future . . . only constant repetition of the past. To relive the past is useless.

The most important laws of life can be the simplest ones to follow. These are great truths often overlooked in moments of grief or trauma, and in excitement or pleasure. The simple code that God instituted in His great Creation . . . the equations spoken into existence at the beginning of time . . . are universal laws that enable survival, one day at a time. These timeless rules can be absorbed and used in our race through this life; or they can be rejected and cast aside, leaving us at the starting line . . . always jumping the gun . . . repeatedly starting over . . . never reaching a destination . . . eternally seeking to finish and rest.

Realizing that the Word of God are not just vacant words written to baffle and confuse the ardent student of life, is a great joyful revelation. People really do reap what they sow. All things really do work for the good of them that love the Lord and seek His guidance. He will always make a way of escape, when we find ourselves in unbearable situations. We can forgive them that cause us great harm, just as He forgave us our trespasses against Him. God really does raise up a standard before us, when the enemy comes in like a flood. He will never leave us or forsake us, nor can anything or anyone separate us from Him, or His love.

God allowed the apple of His eye, His perfect Son, to be shamefully ridiculed and to suffer the agony and mutilation of His precious Body. He solemnly watched, as His only Child died in the most horrible, deprecatory manner as Jesus sacrificed Himself for the very people who hated and murdered Him. There is a reason why God chose this manner to pay the price for the sins of humanity. To take a childs place in suffering is the natural instinct of a parent. We would die for our own children in a heartbeat. To willingly hand over your own beloved child to those who would do them harm is an unnatural act. To let that child suffer humiliation and great agony, as you willingly stand by watching? This kind of love is completely foreign to us . . . an act beyond our comprehension. It is a wondrous thing, God’s solution for our sinful condition. He, Himself. . . perfection . . . was the price. So God willingly gave His Son, and His Son willingly gave His Life, for you and me ....so we could be with Him for Eternity.

Could I have knowingly, willingly handed over my only firstborn son, Robert, to the people who murdered him so brutally? Whomever took the life of my beautiful, young son and his friend . . . more than likely a person who never spent one moment wondering about the enormous pain and sorrow he caused; could I, with a sincere heart, ask God to forgive him? Could I hand over my perfect little Tina to be tormented, tortured, and murdered, then forgive the perpetrators who caused the death of that innocent, precious baby? We, as earthly beings cannot fathom the kind of love required to make such a selfless sacrifice. And what about Reba, the woman that killed my father? Could I refuse her entrance to heaven?

What if their salvation were left up to me? What if their salvation depended on my forgiveness? Could I deny a man the same grace that God has shown me? Could I question his right to salvation and negate his place in Heaven? As a true believer in the God given Word . . . I cannot. I cannot judge them . . . I cannot reject them. By His grace, I not only must, but do forgive the woman that murdered my dad . . . I do forgive the man that murdered my son. Through Him . . . I can do what is required of me . . . what He expects me to do. I forgive them in His Name, just as He forgave me. It is the desire of my heart that they will be saved and come into His presence with thanksgiving and praise, even as I do.

God pardoned much, when He pardoned me. His priceless Gift of Grace, prepared from the beginning of time, cost Him everything . . . and to whom much is given . . . much is required.

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