moved blog to www.thepearlcollector.net

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“The Body of Christ”

1 Corinthians 12:21-26

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

While the bible says everything that needs to be said… I’ll just share my personal interpretation and application of it. I may be wrong, but my conviction is one with experience that makes me confident that my take on it is accurate.

Years ago, my family was a victim of a painful church-split, and at the time my relationship with God was distant, very far from honest and real on my part. This experience drove me into a search for the truth, and a love for the truth mixed with an angry, bitter view of the church, and to all those in place of leadership inside and outside the body who were using their status for personal gain, even when unintentional and just a weak moment in their personal life.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” In a world where individuals are extremely busy and self-absorbed in all their striving for whatever end, I find it is hard to most of us to stop, and take a step back to look into the heart. We live in a world that blows with the wind, if not, desperately grasping for it, escapism, identity crises.

The desire for unity and peace in any arena is a God-given desire that is in the heart of every person, regardless of how hard their heart is, even for the atheist. A heart may be walled up and the desire is deep within, but everybody wants it in their life. But in the church… or the “body of Christ,” it has become a place of striving for many, to find some sort of balance, a united vision… a feeling of being “on the right path” as a body of believers.

Until Jesus returns, the only right path the body of believers will have, is Jesus. No formula, order, organization, event, style of teaching, theology, interpretation, worship service, etc, will have any weight or “right path” unless it is centered only in Jesus.

Obviously this sounds elementary, but the heart IS deceitful. It is often hard to immediately see if something being done is to make the individual feel better about where their flock of believers are moving, growing (in numbers), or how their formula for evangelism is working. It can quickly become about a person or thing instead of Jesus if things aren’t kept in line with Jesus, and always given up to Him. If it’s always focused on Jesus, the fullness of why Jesus is so important and so necessary. Once our personal interests get involved, it becomes pious, self-righteous and self-seeking.

Each group of people, geographic region of believers, individuals, etc, are different parts of this body. While one part of the Body is meant to be the mouth (evangelists, worship leaders, anything that Jesus would say to be the mouth), others are meant to be the legs, whether that means the workers who make it all work financially, administratively, anything that keeps the body moving forward. The eyes could mean prayer, and an awareness to the spiritual and natural climates of creation. The only one who can be the whole body, is Christ himself. He is the perfect intercessor with Wisdom, accomplishing the Father’s will, and is moving and doing great things all over the earth, even through us.

It takes laborers doing their part, and choosing with the grace of God to be a vessel for Christ. It takes complete surrender, and freedom from the bondage sin. The apostle Paul describes everything needed for the individual to be free when he speaks of captivating the thoughts. EVERYTHING negative, starts in the mind, and when it becomes an action or words slipping from the tongue, it begins its destructive course.

God is the one who is sanctifying us in his own timing, on his terms. We will eventually see our role and purpose individually in our days, even if we are not the last generation before His return. As long as we keep our relationship with Him honest and repentant, He will guide us to the light, and the way He desires the body to operate.

Throughout history He has been doing a great job at showing us how we so foolishly abused the light He gave us. (Think of the catholic crusades). See how far we have come? The level of maturity (sanctification) that has come from our blunt abuse of the Scripture to getting closer and closer to pure, undefiled religion, coupled with the knowledge our need of a real relationship with Him, instead of the pious order of Catholicism! Only God can be given the glory to the revelation of our weaknesses, as He continues to shine the light on this dark, dark world.

I just got back from my first trip as an evangelist, and now know that this is where I am called to be. We are all evangelists in our personal spheres of influence. But to be one who travels, and reaches out to the world is one God makes known and lets them know in their personal journey. We all have roles, and will find it as long as we surrender all to Him. Our personal dreams, desires, idols and sin puts God in a box, and He is so kind to respect it, and let us chase the wrong path until we return to Him.

Eventually, the body will be One… and until then…. fight the good fight of Faith! While we are painfully divided, only one thing keeps us together, and that is Jesus… lets give up our devices of sin, call it sin, and let Him pull us back together. He paid for it in full.

Crescendo – a poem.

The United States lies to waste,
with wasteful ties to lies of late.
Haste and hate, came through the gates,
and Fate so nigh, it might not wait.

An Introduction to Sasha Stark.

done

Viewer beware.

Writing, the Right Way.

What I realized today, was that when I post on this blog, it’s usually in a way that is just… hasty.

So those of you i’ve tortured with terrible grammar, repetitiveness, and poor structure, behold… a vow to embrace patience and wisdom before publishing anymore posts on this blog.

I tend to just think about a topic, write it, then post it, with absolutely no planning, proofreading, or professional degree. I don’t structure it in a way that articulates a point in a way that gives the reader the ability  just move right through the post and with ease, understand what I’m saying without getting bored, or having to re-read a sentence because it was just to thick, or even a run-on sentence.

So consider this the last, hasty post from me.

An accurate display of the far-right (conservative view)

With the misinformation from both sides in our government, there is always the fear-tactic that keeps that side emotional and reactionary.

Liberals are too trusting of their leaders, thus adopting a radical humanistic ideology based on ideas with good intent (i’ve said that alot now, but that is what it is).

Conservatives are too hypersensitive and fearful of socialism, while moderates just don’t really care, as long as the nation doesn’t fall apart and their own life keeps steady.

This was clearly written (and very witty) by one on the far right.

The end is a bit inappropriate, but it’s the typical, pathetic bashing of the other side in a witty negative way. But it does illustrate, and over-exaggerate points that are worth observing.

done

Manipulation & Control

“If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” -Harry Truman

Manipulators and control-needy people often use the tactic of confusing their people or person to produce a reaction that best fills the satisfying feeling of being in control, and the peace of mind that your followers, children, co-workers, etc, are loyal to you and your stance on any given subject, lifestyle, theology, religion, etc.

Some manipulate out of fear of losing the control because of pain and mistreatment, and the feeling that they are pioneering the right way of thinking, or the right way to do things.

You can look at various historical figures who operated out of pain and mistreatment, which can be translated to the phrase “bitter envy, and self deceit” because of that pain or mistreatment that the individual experienced. Hitler for one, was an artist, mistreated, rejected, not just by the art community and the colleges, but even those close to him, his father. The striving a young man does to get his father’s blessing and honor for career choices is a journey that helps define a man. Everyone knows the history that follows, and grotesque nature of manipulation and control over multitudes of people.

Manipulation and Control is an area of struggle for everybody. Some are crafty, some are just emotional. Some just don’t know that they’re really manipulating to get what they want, at other peoples expense.

I’ve seen it so many times… it’s usually painted with a language of strong conviction, coupled with emotional baggage, and then a great ultimatum. Sometimes it comes with underlying leverage, that makes the person or group of people feel bad for being in agreement, or any sort of opposition to it. Out of pity, even a subtle accusation of disloyalty, naivety, or even persuaded with eloquent language that sounds convincing and seemingly wise…. they submit, and give in to the manipulator’s demands and/or requests.

Then there’s the violent fear tactic. It’s when the people or person have been so inundated and controlled by the manipulator’s words and belief system, that they live in fear of abuse, death, or isolation (excommunication).

There are so many ways people manipulate people, and its a sick, disgusting reality.

If God is sovereign, and you believe in God, let His people go… cast away your so-called wisdom, and give the people dignity to embrace their own journey, and you live yours.

Happiness, what is it?

While doing laundry, I just suddenly had a couple thoughts on dynamics of what happiness seems to be and what it is. So everything written here are just mere thoughts in a vague boring structure, almost as if they were proverbs or conclusions of thought, but really it’s just a live, on-the-go verbal processing. My right pinky fell asleep several times while blogging this from my iPhone.

Hype and excitement will not produce happiness, it creates expectation. The expectations of an individual are what helps the individual respond genuinley to whatever subject or medium in which the individual is recieving information whether visually, audibly or just intuitivley.

The response of someone with low expectations of a film will be much higher than usual, while someone with high expectation grumbles or scoffs at it, (even though on the grand scale it was reviewed as mediocre). The mood of the individual prior the viewing of a film, event, book, conversation dramatically gets in the way regardless of the prior expectations and quality of the information exchange.

A facade of giddy happiness is in fact escapism to seek out a warm and fuzzy feeling of belonging but usually ending without that void filled, it’s a sign of the need of freedom from the bondage of this identity crisis (or facade). There is much striving in an individual caught up in a facade.

Happiness is not the feeling of pleasure of laughter in a conversation, that was just a fun conversation that felt good. You could say in that moment you were happy, but happiness is the freedom from an idenity crisis, a firm resolve in who you are, full of hope and no fear of tommorow, free from selfishness and full of meekness. Real joy.

Pure & Undefiled Healthcare Reform

Let me start with my idea of the needed remedy. A pure & undefiled healthcare reform would be a system where the federal government has little involvment, but a Healthcare Act created by the people and our representatives that organize funds on the local and state level, again, with very little federal influence. This Act would create a system of volunteer and paid doctors, nurses, and the other necessities that are mobile in their city or entire state, which seek out through well funded marketing, to reach as much of those in need as possible, and completely free for the patient. These kinds of organizations already exist, but they are usually private, non-profit organizations funded privately, and free of state, local, and or federal tax. We also need to raise the bar of funding for these private organizations. State Government run entities should be allowed, but they wont be expected of the local govt, as tax benefits for such services from private organizations will energize private organizations to help out more.

The heated debate of Healthcare Reform has taken many turns, (often just spinning in circles), but there is a gradual growth in the debate, even though it seems a majority of democrats & the liberals are pushing really hard to get their version of it set in stone.

It seems the division ideologically in this nation and government is so great that there can be no friendly, constructive debate on the issue. Few are teachable, and teachable leaders in the representative end of the government are the necessity in getting anything honorable and good established. Those on the platform and their politics are like a squeezed sponge over a watercolor painting. You get a vague idea of what you can see, but its one great blurry mess.

There is some good intent in the pursuit of this reform, but it was never in need of such a massive bill. All that is needed is a clear debate, in plain english, on how to fund healthcare for those who are poor, and do not have circumstances that enable them to take care of themselves in areas of life that most of us can.

The danger of letting the government pursue this reform without our involvement as a people, is that it is OUR money that they are taking from us, and we’re too trusting of an eloquent presentation with language that makes you feel like you’re hearing something good, but in fact, you have no idea what they’re really saying. They are just making your heart feel warm and fuzzy with the noble truth and idea of helping those who are in need.

The ideal is that people will help out of the desire to do good, but how do you inspire 300 million people which their busy lives pursuing are the american dream in the way they see fit? The human heart desires to do good, but is too self seeking to labor wholeheartedly and serve with meekness.

Proverbs 13:4  The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

President Reagan 48 years before Obamacare (healthcare)

We all know that humanity keeps running around like a dog chasing its tail… but here is something that the “conservatives” and “moderates” should be screaming from rooftops. Yet, Reagan’s approach, semantics and good looks are only what might just reel in the “first class intellectuals” also known as Liberals, and if they know what humility means, they’ll listen, and respond swiftly, and as wisdom advises it.

done

The Democratic Weaning Act : Healthcare Reform

To start off, I want to make this point very clear, if a bill in congress is too complex, and with too many pages to interpret simply and debate clearly, it is not worth voting on, EVER. Especially if the government was INTENTIONALLY SET UP so that the people of the country tell the government what to do.

Another point; any market where the FEDERAL government is posing as an alternative choice, is what eventually brings the industry down, and eventually a collapse that turns over all responsibility and control to the government, and creates another pillar to support tyranny.

Highly trained individuals labored over perfecting their trade and created a much more competitive market where the product or service offered is usually better than elsewhere, and even surpasses the expectations of the consumer, (i.e. innovative surgical procedure on a patient with appendicitis with minimal scarring and invasive procedures, versus the classic, more painful, noticeable scarring, yet cheaper way of taking care of the same issue).

Another example would be the iPod, or iPhone, Palm Pre, Zen, etc… products for entertainment and/or communcation. Some are better than others, some dominate the market because the ARE better.

Government influence to either of these markets only makes it harder for the competitors to continue to bring out products and services to the people that are intended to make one’s quality of life in this nation better, and to cater to the desires, hopes and dreams of the individual.

The Democratic Weaning Act, aka Healthcare Reform, is at it’s core, the weaning off of AND destruction of the quality of healthcare.  To say it in a more detailed way, is that it hinders the insurance companies ability to have funds available for the high tech, innovative types of healthcare that create a better quality of life for those who are in need of new high-tech forms of healthcare that are second to none.

Insurance is not cheap if you want the highest quality healthcare. That is if you WANT (i.e. willing to pay for it). The highest quality healthcare is like having the choice to buy a honda civic, or a Lexus LS430). The kind of work and labor the person does to get something, regardless of how vain it may be to the next person, is still hard work, and they deserve the dignitiy to do with their hard earned money.  It is not anybody’s fault that you cannot afford healthcare, it is just a fact of life. While the ideal is that everyone can afford the impeccable services, it’s just not going to happen until the current high-tech solutions are the old, cheaper solution.

It is just a fact of life that it rains in one area of the earth sufficient enough for a successful harvest, while one area of the earth suffers drought.

The federal government intends to bring change to this fact of life, assuming they can really be another competitor in the industry of insurance. This is an industry that won’t collapse overnight, but it will eventually collapse if the bill in its current state, passes.

Healthcare is not a right, it is a service. Our worst healthcare is still far better than many places around the earth. To make it a human right is a great idea, but unsustainable.

The healthcare bill as it is right now, will wean this nation off of private insurance, and slowly wean insurance companies off of their profits which help fuel the innovative services that are out there, which people labor hard to achieve in school to bring us the best service they possibly can.

To buy an ipod, it takes saving up enough money to purchase one. To buy a car it takes much more work, and much more commitment to purchase it the right way. To get AMAZING healthcare, it takes MONEY. As much as we all despise the painful reality of money, it’s a fact of life. It’s either God heals you through a great mircale, or you find cheaper healthcare that works (which is out there, just not ideal healthcare), or get insurance through a private insurance company that helps you cover the cost, or better yet, pay the hospital a monthly bill to take care of your issue. Some hospitals require insurance to make sure that you don’t rip them off. Getting insurance is not difficult, but the hospital will never turn you away if you are in a dire emergency.

I personally do not have insurance, and have no intent of ever getting insurance for me while I’m a bachelor. When I have a family, it would be wise for me to cover the children and my wife, and I will do so as wisdom advises it. It would be my responsibility to work as hard as necessary to keep my family taken care of. It is not ever the governments responsibility ever, other than to protect me and my nation from invasion, through the finances they recieve from my tax money. My other taxes, to the state and local, are to take care of my roads, my schools, etc.

The federal government was never intended to be what it is today, and if the people care, they should stand up. I am standing up even though I personally don’t care if the feds win or not. I’ll embrace the harder journey if it is all I have to deal with. But this fantasy of healthcare reform, is not a fact of life, its a philsophical, semantically confusing socialist takeover of good healthcare, so that the feds get more money from us, the taxpayers.

Let’s find a way to practice as a nation, a “pure and undefiled” way of “spreading the wealth” and taking care of the poor, single mothers, orphans and widows. Let’s stop this wreckless think-tank of bad ideas, and each work within our sphere of influence to do good, and not let the government strip us of our abilitiy to do all that we desire to do for good, with the level of opportunity we currently have to do so.

Let’s start a new debate with real statistics on how many people in the nation are turned away from healthcare in this country, and how many are running off to other countries for healthcare.

Even look at how many people choose something as simple as the iPod over the Zen. Most of you will say “what is the zen?” Healthcare in America is like the iPod of healthcare, it just costs hard earned money to use it. That’s it.

^{JAMES 3}

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

the truth is…

Americans will not care about the current state of this nation until they are robbed of the system they are currently inundated with. They don’t understand the legislative system, or their role in it. Those who do know, are either giving up, and giving in, or they are scrambling to organize, with not much influence or a platform to regain our control as “the People.”

The church isn’t realizing their role in the nation, and generally are striving to be relevant to the philosophies that help keep their personal identities valid before themselves and how they want people to view them. Some pockets of the church are realizing it, and some are trying to do their part, but may just burn out, as the church continues to grumble and embrace contentious dialogue against the other parts of the body. Each congregation has it’s own role, but are too busy looking at the Body, wanting to tell the other part what to do.

Every great idea, (myspace, wordpress,  facebook, twitter, cars, films, photography, etc) ends up being used in a way that keeps the multitudes attached to some sort of addiction, whether big or small, it’s often a trap.

The media, has no clue what they’re talking about most of the time. Most are just echoes, instead of true journalism entities. You’ll watch a movie that will mention some real truths, and then suddenly blame it all on the WRONG side, out of bitter envy, even self deciet.

I hate having to say “if i had” this or that, i’d be able to do this or that. I want to really do it. I want to get things done, not for the feeling that “we’ve arrived” but because there is much worth fighting for.

*sigh*

he plays the blues of a broken home.

Jacob Hanly, one of my older brothers, is an amazing songwriter, and I’m truly, completely, absolutley not biased when I say that.

time, whats left of it anyways?

As I think of what I’m writing this very second as I write it, (in a “verbally-processing” sort of way); I realize time is slipping right through my fingers, and what could have been done, what should have been done, what was done is something that creeped up on me as I sit here in a coffee shop, editing photos from an aimless photoshoot in the depths of Kansas City. Was that time spent in vain? Is the time im using right now, in vain, because everything I’m contemplating has been figured out time and time again?

If I try to do more now, and cut out anything that can be considered a “vain distraction” from my more passionate goals in life, is that striving, and am I not embracing life, or am I actually focused and working towards something. Or would I only find out that what my passionate goals are unrealistic and I find out 10 years later that I strove to do something I just could not do, realistically.

America, at the turn of the tide.

Bear with me, as I’m going to illustrate in this somewhat lengthy post of what I feel is the current state of our country. The metaphor is not ideal, but I feel it works. If you don’t know what a riptide is, its simply a section of water with a current that pushes the surface further out in the ocean.

The so called “United” States of America is like that of a young swimmer swimming in the ocean at full speed through a set of what seems to be riptides; which draw the young swimmer deeper and deeper into the ocean. Each riptide serves as a catalyst to boost the swimmer’s speed at an exponential rate, with no end in sight when it may just leave the swimmer in the middle of the ocean.

Yet, what seemed to be a chain of a new, unique phenomenon in riptide history; is in fact, just water being pulled from the coastlands, and dragging all that is in the ocean towards a tidal wave of immeasurable size, with a strength unmatched, and all that is in its path it will carry to its death, or torn to shreds and at the least, irreparable.

The riptides that we think we’re seeing right now is the plunge into a socialist-like system of government with some seemingly noble intentions, and a majority of power-grabs and control-needy men and women in the government system.  It looks like we’re onto something new, something different, but it is in fact, a seemingly hopeful, seemingly intellectual repackaged version of socialism. This new version has a rhetoric as if we’ve climbed a ladder of human understanding and marketed broadly to a target market of each demographic and each walk of life. The leftist philosophies which drive the violent push towards the destructive wave is painted to the people with calculations which bear no variables, and contain a consensus of counselors who are trying to be self-seeking survivalists, instead of representatives of a population which entrusted them to do so.

The fantasies of the leftist philosophy are understandable, and it sounds too good to be true, like a scheme in which you invest your hard earned money, in hope earn money in an economy based on expectation of numbers, and not just simply hard work or good ideas that actually sell products that consumers and organizations can use.

The poster child for the leftist, (or liberal, Marxist, socialist, even pro-foolish) philosophy isn’t President Barack Obama, he’s just a loudspeaker on the beach which is just distracting everybody from the large wave on the horizon. He may even himself be unaware of its magnitude or existence. He and those whom he is representing may be unrealistically optimistic, and dreaming too much because the philosophy has become something like a religion, in which he takes faith in man, instead of God.

The poster child is humanism. Don’t get me wrong, humanity does have some strength within to accomplish good deeds, but the striving to “fix” things and manipulate and control EVERYTHING has, and will always be the vainglory of humanism. Noble it may seem in the moment, but as history shows, it has always led to death, destruction, war, chaos and the painful cycle of human weakness.

Humanism represents the “good” in which we all yearn to see, because the transparency in the contrast considering the magnitude of injustice and bad news versus the tangible good news and true justice being served.

The good in conservative values in contrast to the FORCED good & the seemingly “good” in liberal values is truly the epicenter of our nation’s conflict.

The existence of the poor, the orphan and the widow will always be with us, and should always be taken care of. No human organizations with all the wealth in the world will ever be able to reach each cry to the injustices they feel daily. Their struggle is a burden most of us want to see lifted.

The existence of the self-seeking escapists will also, always be with us. Humanity is never satisfied, and never will be, as long as we keep striving to control, fix, without the acknowledgment of our need of God’s help. God is being ridiculously KIND to us by allowing us to continue to strive to be this help, but the day we turn to Him for our help… is where true hope lies.

To do justice, we must all within our personal spheres of influence; reach out to the needy, afflicted, poor orphans, widows, and all that obviously fall into that category. There are many ways to do this, and it simply takes restructuring in your own lifestyle to adopt a habit of doing good deeds. Simply doing good deeds is not salvation from death, but it is something this new socialist-like government will force on the entire population through taxation without representation, and when that system collapses, it will be even harder to help those in need, and will only create a larger population of those in need.

So where is America right now, if we are like this swimmer in the ocean? Is it too late to turn back? I’m not completely sure it’s too late, but is it ever too late to try? The ways we can turn this swimmer around, is by getting actively involved in restoring the system which the forefather’s installed in this country to abandon the traps of tyranny. To do this, we must take back our country by getting organized with our communities and businesses, and do everything we can to stop the government that is supposed to be working for us and representing us; from driving this nation directly into the destructive wave.

If you’ve read this far, I now plead you to email, call and contact your congressman, to defect the healthcare bill, which is currently in congress. Urge senators to defect the cap & trade bill. The “Cap and Trade” bill has already been passed in congress, when it has not even been read by a majority of the congressman. The healthcare bill as well is making its way quickly through congress. If you don’t understand the way legislation and regulation is made in our country, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. The voting process is just ONE of the riptides which I am talking about. This is a riptide we can slow-down, or completely remove if we organize and do what we can to continue giving dignity to each American to lead a life in which they choose to do the right thing, as much as humanly possible. If we don’t fight now using the system we have in place, I fear we have a much greater conflict at hand, and it will lead to what I fear is the complete collapse of our system. It doesn’t mean life is over, but it means it’s dramatically, painfully harder.

twitter… ruining my writing ability.

in an effort to keep people updated with the travels, i use twitter.

the character limit of twitter forces me to be okay with poor grammar and structure, to the point where i’ve embraced a bad habit of finding quicker ways to say things.

the consequence : harder for the reader to read with ease and good pace. so bear with me as i attempt to regain some writing skill.

God’s wisdom: divine, brilliant timing yet seemingly unideal in realtime.

This is the story of my life. Probably the same for most of us, as we go through the daily races from sunrise to sunset and throughout the occasional restless night.

Embracing the journey of life, means accepting the setbacks for what they are, and navigating your way through them, and adapting to your circumstances, instead of getting anxious, frustrated or angry. I’ve learned that responding THOSE ways leads to more setbacks and jams that only pile up more anxiety, frustration or anger.

This is nothing new, it’s more like an echo of the wisdom Adam & Eve had to have come upon as they toiled under the sun planting the first gardens and weeding the first annoying weeds, profusely sweating as the gnats, ticks, chiggers, flies and all creeping crawling things would get in the way of such a simple task.

Joseph and Mary had to navigate through setbacks that would confuse and frustrate ANYBODY. I mean, why would God let them show up to an Inn, in an insignificant town, on a night where there is no vacancy, and put the poor father and mother in a position where their circumstances are so NOT ideal, especially when they believe that Mary is carrying the Son of God in her womb, and even let her go into labor, where the smelly, nasty animals reside? Besides noticing his humility, we MUST seek His wisdom.

“It is what it is” is the phrase I often repeat to myself as I endure 15 hour days of hard work in the sun, with merely a 5-10 minute break in between it all, with no days off until our work is done. The work alone contains enough frustrations and setbacks to stir me up, and there are so many negative things going on in the earth this very second, that I could write about it and make anybody, extremely angry, frustrated, full of strife, and stirred up to do something about the corruption, deception, and evil going on in the world.

To see and experience God’s wisdom and timing for ANYTHING, is by completely giving the situation to Him through prayer. Yes, that sounds totally religious, boring, and seemingly counterproductive if you look at prayer a certain way.

Ideally, I would love to be in constant prayer throughout the day, but my job, my thoughts, hopes, desires, plans often get in the way, but are also just a fact of life. What I’ve realized, is that ideals are attainable, if God gives the grace to get there. The grace is there, but I believe most of us never reach for it with all we’ve got. I know I don’t… I’m a dreamer. I try, and the effort counts, and God loves it… but truly… I know I could do better.

So as long as I know I could do better, and my transparency about myself with Him is ongoing and I’m not trying to hide in my shame from Him, I should REALLY enjoy seeing the work He accomplishes as I find peace in His leadership, by not responding negatively to any situation. Ideally I’d love to get through each day without a grumbling, or a deep groan or “BLAH!” about not being able to be around someone I want to be with, or to be back in the hotel and not working in the insane heat, or that I wouldnt just lose stuff all the time. Heh.

ANYWAYS… my point is… that by waiting patiently, praying for, and observing the ways of God BEFORE reacting emotionally, is essential to witness the wisdom in the proverb

“¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

I wish it didn’t seem so counterproductive. Because it’s not… I’m still working, trying to be wise with everything in life, but instead of acting on emotions, I’m learning that I need to keep my eyes on the prize, and look for the little lights at the end of each tunnel that I know is His direction.

A man once told me, “i have wisdom from pain, and pain from lack of wisdom.”

Now that I’ve seen and tasted and experienced his words, now I charge you, and myself, to embrace the journey, pray, and SEEK and OBSERVE His wisdom, before reacting hastily and digging deeper holes you can’t get out, or clogging up the highway to your hopes and dreams by looking for shortcuts around His way, because we’re all just impatient, weak, and lonely.

global warming.

Global warming; or “Climate Change,” is currently a global debate which has much legislation being RUSHED through congress, yet no real conversation about the unexplained, tangible implications it creates.

The implications are at first seemingly unrelated, but it is completely related to one big question.

The existence of God.

To say it simply, if you believe global warming is a very real threat, you do not TRULY believe in the existence of God, and if you are Christian who struggles with the fear of global warming, you do not believe that God has provided plans and a way for the restoration of this stunning planet we live in.

Yet, one may still try to believe in the idea of the existence of God, and that He provided us this planet, to take care of it, and die, and build your own theology based on a God that lives far off, leaving us to the injustices of men, and to live life full of pain, agony, injustice, sorrow, moments of joy, and eventually death. That kind of God does not seem to be the kind of God we are ALL, deep down inside yearning to know, or some are wanting NOTHING to do with. That kind of God, is not the kind of God that would bother creating humanity. We are not His scientific experiment, because if He is God, he would not need to create us, to see us fall as we have fallen time and time again.

So global warming, on the grand scale, is the fear of death, without the fear of God.

The central clash in the middle of this blurry argument is theism vs. atheism. Most will disagree with me that global warming is an atheist reality, but it is nothing short of it.

I understand the desire to be better stewards of our planet, as we should, for good sterwardship is wise, noble, and good… but the legislation being pushed through congress is NOT for the better of the planet, but for more control, and the ever so recurring theme in the history of man, of man STRIVING to bring justice and balance to a fallen world, without God.

hey, you…

self-seeking convenience or a sweet video with darling kids?
i’ll take the latter.

done

Dear Obama (or whoever is pulling the strings) … part one:

Today you said:

“paying for what you spend is basic common sense”

Saving up for what you spend for is common sense and wisdom.
Spending what you don’t have is borrowing and foolish (i fall into that category sometimes).
Borrowing money that you wont make in your lifetime, and doing what you are doing with it, is like rigging a nuclear bomb of an unknown size with what seems to be a real scientist and no measuring tool for when it might explode, equipped with a timeclock that is impossible to program, and giving an isolated, deaf & blind man (in a cell 10 miles deep underground with no basic human contact and communication) the trigger to the bomb, yet somehow it was communicated to him that by pushing this trigger, he will be set free from his cell.

If the arithmetic of the current administration was compared to a pungent nauseating smell, it would match the administration taking the worst roadkill mixed with the entire mass of NYC’s sewage, and the administration attempting to make febreze out of it.

It could also be comparable to trying to sleep with an ever so persistent dripping faucet down the hallway and drinking four shot americano loaded with sugar and sleeping pills.

The Romance of Semantics and Deception.

There is an individual and corporate habit in the world…

Bridge

Bridge in south Chicago. Taken from my iphone.

A night by myself

a quiet night by myself.

listening to Ray Lamontange while wandering and thinking in my backyard.

photos from my iPhone.

On the road..

I’m on my iPhone as i write this because while working in Chicago I experienced the loss of my laptop, wallet, expensive shoes I got for my birthday, and the destruction of my cell phone, hence the purchase of this brilliant invention, the iPhone.

I put all my own music on it, and have been finally writing melodies and lyrics to go with the hypnotic, sometimes too dramatic themes expressed musically. We’ll see how that goes when I finally can afford a new laptop with this new job.

Photgraphically I thought I was helpless until i realized the phone can take some decent pictures. I’ll start photo-journaling the travels all over the Midwest here soon. It might be kinda silly to have such diverse topics on one blog….. maybe.

The road has been quite a change for me on many levels. I have fresh perspective and vision for the things I want in my life, and the habits that I want purged are best to conquer now.

Since spring of 08, I have been on quite the spiritual journey, learning so much about God and myself. Now is the time for me to really embrace wisdom, and make most of my time to really make my desires more than just desires. I wasn’t lazy in my work ethic, but foolish in my decisions that actually work towards tangible growth. My emotions weren’t really grounded… and I’m slowly growing up through it all. Loving the journey so far…

One of the things I’m learning that you can take with you out of this somewhat boring post is trusting the Lords will in each passing moment of each day, and specifically each moment of conflict. What I mean by conflict is when any moment is not going your ideal way or someone is doing something a way that you know is less than what they could. With this new job I see setbacks every few minutes. Most if these setbacks are small, yet extremely frustrating as they frequent more than I feel they should.
The other thing in the light of trust is the direction this nation is taking on every level.
You have Obama and his seemingly vague promises colored with tactful language; poetically speaking to the hearts of a nation desperate for good news. (while making angry a silent multitude).
You see a confused justice system trying to operate with the defects of typical human error and corrupt individuals with private interests.
You see a media empire with lazy journalists just echoing the words of paid complainers who report without doing what a journalist is supposed to do, actual research and reporting. Even some (understatement) elope with the personal agendas of each media conglomerate.
You see an nationwide infrasructure with potential, but a generation too lazy and self seeking to maintain, improve and evolve it.
Then you have the ongoing conversation on morality (abortion, gay marriage, drugs, etc). These are great to have, but there has been such little growth because of the ideologies and paradigms on both sides and those in between that create reactionary responses that fuel the fire. On top of that you have the hypocrisy of the church which forces the conversation into a cycle and brings the conversation to that of elementary school kids arguing with eachother about why they have to stay indoors while it is raining outside, instead of going to the Teacher for answers.
Obviously, the teacher in the subject of trust is Christ. Alongside the bible, prayer is one of our best allies in these times, in each passing moment, and most enjoyable in the midst of conflict when you turn to Him and find peace, instead of frustration. In the moment of conflict you can grow in faith through the trials and produce patience knowing that God can use this moment to sharpen you, and keep you steady before Him. It should all lead to Christ, his return, and his plan to restore all things, make all wrong things right, and establish His kingdom on earth forever…

Love,
Adam

Obama & his false prophet… the teleprompter.

Now I’m not saying that this guy is the Antichrist, but he is something like an antichrist.

Obama’s use of the teleprompter is proof that the agenda he is most focused on is not what spews out of his mouth while heeding to every movement of text on the teleprompter screen. A man’s passion is in no need of the help of a teleprompter if what he is saying he is truly passionate about, especially when he has a gift of charisma, and communicating clearly with no disability. The weeping of the people during speeches is proof that they are easily swayed by his words, but are decieved by his craftiness, and made confused by placing all their hope in a man, who has a history which should be held under much scrutiny. The confusion of the people is clearly the frustration of the lack of knowledge (evidence) of the existence of God, thus their emotions being tossed around and easily moved by such hopeful themes of things getting better by someone or something tangible, like Obama (or anybody). The lack of knowledge of God comes from their inability to accept that there is a God (pride, and comfort and addictions to their devices of pleasure), and their inability to admit they are ruled by the fear of death. Obama, (and most leaders) at the end of the day, is an enabler. He, with his words, and seemingly socialist decisions, is placing all of america under one banner so that he can control the multitudes by allowing them to stay in the bliss of their ignorance, while making the feel warm and fuzzy. I also know, that at the end of the day, he is going to be an upset for the people who had placed all their hope in what he proclaimed to accomplish, and what he hopes to accomplish, by finding out that he is yet another weak man as we all are in our flesh, with deep flaws and arrogance.

Frances Ann & the Parentals

These latest shots are of my FAVORITE couple here in Kansas City.
Frances Ann is the wee little one inside the not so little womb,
The amazing couple is Francisco & Liesl.

lost ducks.

I was able to steal a camera for a little bit and take a couple photos. I only got to shoot for literally 10 minutes, but was lucky to stumble onto small settlement of ducks. It seems they have all gone astray from their migration. They crashed at Longview lake and made new friends.

tempo dilemma

So im stuck on a feel for a new song idea…
for a second i like it slower, but it loses what i like about the faster, and vice versa…
Check it out… and turn it down probably, i make music loud.
obviously, its a rough cut… levels, samples, etc, are mediocre.

new-season-80

new-season-65

finally, some good news.

To say it in short, basically… Missouri took a very strong stance against the Freedom of Choice act, and clearly stated their reasons why in the text below… read if you like.

taken from:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills091/biltxt/intro/HR0294I.htm

FIRST REGULAR SESSION
House Resolution No. 294
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1396L.02I

Whereas, the 111th United States Congress is considering the Freedom of Choice Act, which purports to classify abortion as a “fundamental right”, equal in stature to the right of free speech and the right to vote – rights that, unlike abortion, are specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution; and

Psalm 139

Please read this Psalm, listen to my new song idea, and hopefully by the end of the Psalm, you’ll want to pray the same prayer David did.

love, adam

click on play or download the song.

download

Psalm 139
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.[c]
21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

glorious video

done

intro to new idea

you’re hearing the intro and verse & 2nd verse before the prechorus. this will be the first song i ever sing to.

the drums are terrible, just deal with it. heh.

tentative called “distance” it basically shows how i feel about it.

download “distance”

image really does make a difference…

this is a total vain and meaningless post, but i just want to vent.

i was getting my phone reactivated today, i foolishly sat on my phone almost two months ago and broke the screen, so i got a new one recently to reactivate it.

walked into the store, and the customer service was pathetic, the countenance of every worker was not only bored and unhappy, but just totally uniterested in actually working, and just passing time.

the store didnt seem to have a dress code, and i only felt anxious the entire time i was there. then it took 2 hours to get the phone finished, and then when i left my truck didnt even start….

what was that all about? heh.

the punchline of the arts.

When I was a wee little kid I figured out I had a huge imagination.

song idea : photographic memories

download

photo of the minute.

Shelley Paulson “Chiseled”

pre-trib/post-trib rapture, answered simply.

The rapture question is really simple, yet we over-complicate it with philosophy and emotionally driven questions birthed from poor understanding of the big picture that is simply laid in the scripture.

The foundation that creates the pre-tribulation rapture theory is really just a lack of understanding on the original design and intent of creation, mixed with philosophy and great lack of using the scriptures themselves to defend it’s position, and that’s because there are no scriptures that solidify a need or purpose of a pre-trib rapture.

The paradigm of someone who believes in a pre-trib rapture would most likely not believe (or know) that the original design of creation was that God the Father would dwell with mankind, and us with Him. In other words, Heaven on Earth, the physical and the spiritual realms in one. (God is not created, therefore not bound to a physical frame.)In other words, a pre-trib position basically views heaven as a destination, and that creation was a momentary, temporal existence so that we would forever stay in a blissful spiritual state of existence in a far off place with the Father singing songs and staring at him and eachother for eternity, or one might even think He will just create a whole new creation from scratch, or already has, and we’re just being pumped out of an assembly line, and He is just “letting” the lost go to hell because of free-will and that the burden is ours to save the world. (obviously im just venting some of the possible implications of someone who backs pre-trib rapture, and it even contradicts Jesus returning). Honestly, someone who usually backs a pre-trib rapture is someone who probably hasn’t studied the end-times and had a goose-bump feeling when they got the “left-behind” kind of preaching.

They will also believe that God is taking us out of the planet to save us from the wrath that He will unleash on the earth in the end-times that is mentioned in the book of Revelation (and throughout the bible). What they don’t realize they’re saying, is that God is not powerful enough to keep them alive and safe during such a great and terrible time. What they’re forgetting to remember is the story of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, where three young men who were faithful willing servants of the Lord who were divinely protected from the intense furnace that should have caused their death.

God shows no impartiality, He rains on the good and the wicked. Jesus was very intentional when He said “blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” He came to seek and save the lost, that is His primary goal, and we can be servants who partner with Him.

Basically, if we are truly Christians, we will desire to be a light in the world at its darkest time, to partner with Him in seeking the lost souls, and giving them hope in His plan for restoration. Yes, God is soveriegn, He is the one who saves the lost. We should not take offense that He would leave us on earth to experience such a dark time. We should know and understand that death has no effect on us, and a pre-trib rapture is unnecessary. We should also know that God has complete control over the elements, and our surviving intense calamity will be testimony of His goodness, and that He is not out to destroy, but to save those lost, and even if we did die in the tribulation, we are with Him anyways. The wrath being unleashed on earth in the end-times is judgment on those who say no to God, and do not believe He will take care of them, and say yes to Satan, who will give them security by the mark of the beast in the hardest times man has ever seen. It will be a very clear statement to God when people take the mark of the beast. God will not let those He died for, be judged in vain, based off naievty; they will know what they are buying into when they take the mark of the beast, regardless of how cunning and deceptive the anti-christ is.

Our primary weapon to get through the tribulation and through the daily battles we face even now, is our relationship with Jesus, which is cultivated through MUCH prayer, true grace, real repentance,  study of the scriptures, real fellowship with the body of Christ, and the labor of love in which we do our part by being a light in the world. Being a light is taking seriously the labor of love in our sphere of influence that God has placed us in, and the relationships we invest in to partner with Him in saving the lost.

my job makes me hungry

i bet graphic artists that have an emphasis on food love their job.
my job has a focus drinks, but i get some food projects.
i love it when i get to EAT what im working on.
too bad i took this a while back, because i want some now.
to get everything on this photo would cost you 5 bucks… i think they’re off on the price…
and yes, im wasting my break on this blog post.

the pearl collector

in-transition

So I was in Texas for the first week of this year. Made some new sweet friends, ate some amazing food, enjoyed stunning weather, stayed with the sweetest family, and jammed a bit of music, and really experienced a heavy feeling of a major crossroad in life. I played my first song idea when I first started playing piano a couple years ago. Originally the song idea was named after the parable of the pearl collector. I read that parable and was really inspired by it on so many levels. (obviously, my blog title too.) So I made a melancholy version early on, where it was very slow, hypnotic like all my other ideas, but mostly very eerie and mystical. It was cool in the beginning, but when I jammed with these  three sweet ladies (Sarah, Megan & Blaire) they helped give me a different feel. So this is my weak attempt, sadly without Sarah’s brilliant guitar thing she did.

I honestly should spend more time working on anything I create before posting it. I’m bad at that. I spend a couple hours making a rough cut and then post it. At least any frequent visitors might see some growth, mmmmaybe a little growth.

…back to writing the novel…

So after a ridiculously busy season of work, I am getting back to writing the novel “Great is the Darkness” (tenative title)… It has been a while, and I’ve been anxious to get back into writing. I got a ton on my plate still, so I wont have as much time as I desire to write, but now I can actually make a strong effort.

An old draft of the beggining of chapter 1 is on this blog. Names are changing among other things, so I better not link you to the old post and make you work at finding it. Heh.

Writing is easier when you listen to Canon in D by Pachelbel.

there’s a sunrise ’round the bend…

transition…

So, I’ve been in Kansas City for nearly 4 years now, and have come up to a major crossroad for my life. I’m in Texas right now, hanging out with the sweetest family. Im on a short vacation because I just quit one of my jobs and am pondering on what my next step is. I have so much energy stored up to really pour out my life into something.
The dillemma is that I have so many paths to choose from right now… there are only a couple that really stand out to me. The time I have left in life I want to spend laying my life down for what I care most about, but not for my own glory or benefit, but truly for doing what is right, and experiencing the joy of seeing the fruit of it later.

I have talents that have been unspent, sitting on the shelf for some time… I want to invest in that, but for good things, and for the sake of providing for myself & when i have a family.

I’m slightly anxious, and want to make the right decision… this decision is hard… really hard. Especially when you can visualize some of your ideas of the future now, and if you can really get there.

We always seem to want what we want when we want it. heh.

The thing I need most is patience.