doubt

It's always been interesting to me how God comes through to "simply-broken people like me." It's never how "you think" you want or need it, ... but He always comes through, ... often in ways that make no sense.

I threw-up grace ... regurgitated, into the universe, my doubt, ...shirked the possibility of Nobel Existence for the sake of selfish death, ... and my good friends, ... who've experienced and lived with similar questions faith, ... asked me to read a book, ... which has been on my shelf for probably 3 years now, ... never having read it, ... up until now.

Brennan Manning (1990, 2000) writes in the "Ragamuffin Gospel:"

"You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek anything, do not perform anything, do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted."

If that happens to us, we experience grace" (Manning, 2000, p. 29).

... and wow, what an awakening.

Manning (2000) goes on earlier talking about coming to terms with that gift in saying, "My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it" (p. 27), ... and in reading that, .... like messages in bottles, ... I'm reminded of the mess that God finds me in, ... and I'm reminded of the belief that there is no-thing I need to do but accept Him accepting me.

My doubt has been temporarily erased, ... and when it comes back, ... and I know that it will, ... I will try to remember that there is no-thing I can do to make God love me more, ... and there is no-thing that I have done, ... or will do, ... to make God love me less.

He just loves me, ... and if I love Him (through Jesus) back ... nothing is impossible. When I follow our Brother toward our Father, ... I'm in Grace. And even when I don't follow, ... grace is till here, ... but He wants me like a father wants his son, .. . full of joy and peace, ... being humbled by the confidence of indescribable acceptance , ... and so my most important first-step is to listen and follow, .... knowing that our Father loves me too (!), regardless my worshiping moments and treasures of what's fallen.

"For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is a gift. All that is good is ours not by right by by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. While there is much we may have earned -- our degree and our salary, our home and garden, a Miller Lite and a good night's sleep -- all this is possible only because we've been given so much: life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to beat with love" (Manning, 2000, p. 26).

a first? ... or a third-person narrative?

You(r) Tube? Really? It might belong to someone else.

I love it when anyone talks about God in the Context of Communication.

The question for me is: Does God use the internet? Or, are we just using the internet and looking for a way to fit God into our use?

... should I be reading the bible right now instead of drinking Millers and watching Youtube?

proof of "random" or "intelligent" design?

I've been doubting my faith lately, and so what's a guy to do but surf the internet looking for answers?

By the way, what's the chance that "You Tube," and/or the "Internet" for that matter, both occurred randomly? It's almost like someone intentionally created them.

....hmmmm......

i love science

lightening in a bottle ... sort of

What if God was an NFL referee?

I talked with one of my best friends in the world tonight. Larry and his wife, Donna, live in Tucson, Arizona. He told me, on the phone, how he escaped near-death for the second time.

It should be noted that Larry suffered a major heart attack about five years ago. He died for a few minutes.

Just a few weeks ago, he wrecked a motorcycle, and his heart didn’t give out this time.

We talked about this fact, … his heart, … extensively, … which got us into talking about life and stuff.

Larry is a “non-sometimes-wants to be-recovering Catholic-believer.”

After talking politics, sports, etc., I told him about playing football with Ethan, my son, today.

I know the game of football.

Ethan knows how to run around the backyard like all three and a half year old boys do, and he knows how much fun it is to tackle and chase after the ball in the grass. He doesn't know the rules.

He will someday know the “game” of football, but right now Ethan only knows what he knows.

So, I told Larry that I found myself standing with the football in my hand, … frustrated, ... with decades worth of football knowledge, … knowing all the rules … watching my son run around the yard, ... he, ... wanting to do nothing else but get dirty and muddy while laughing and having fun, … me wanting ... him to just understand the importance of “hike.”

And Larry thought that God might watch motorcycle crashes too.

cool technology

shock and ... awe-...fully cool

viral emails?

Periodically, a viral email comes floating my way, and I typically take a quick glance and then delete them. Not so much because they're not funny or interesting, but I delete them because I'm busy at the time or bogged down with other emails, etc.

With that said, one of these viral emails recently came across my desk, and I actually had time to read it. And, ... it's pretty funny. With that said, ... it's pretty political too, ... which is why it's funny.

Check it out and tell me what you think. Do you think it's funny? Is it funny because it's true? Or, am I just another jerk passing along a viral political email?

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little different.... Two Different Versions................. Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it. MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.