I believe in miracles yes I do

Do you believe in miracles? I have to tell you that I do, I believe in big miracles as well as small miracles.  See, when the sun rises in the morning I count that as a miracle and my eyes opening up to see the sun crest the horizon is a blessing.  I see the bud's of the tree blossoming as a miracle, how the winter turns to spring as a miracle.  You may not, but I do these are little miracles that happen around us, yet we are too busy to see them or notice them.  Then there are the big OMG miracles.  Like, when I had my aneurysm and I had all those many blood transfusions, I know it was an Angel that came to me and saved my life.  Because there is no record of this nurse working on that floor or any other floor that very night and when I asked no one knew who she was or where she came from.  Now, this is not the first time that I have had an intervention like that, but I sure hope it is the last.

I keep telling you that God's time is not our time, that He comes and does as He wills, yet He is always on time and never late.  I have been told all my life that I was an Angel here on earth, that I was born to ease the suffering of others and you know what?  That is exactly what I have been doing my entire life and never even knew it.  My grandmother told me this the day she died.  I didn't understand what she meant, but I do now.  Most of you know me personally or have read my blog and know of me.  I have walked a dark and lonely road, but a road of my own choosing. I chose to walk along the drug dealers, the addicts, the prostitutes, yet in all of that I never lost the sight in my Lord and Savior, and those who came to know me saw the light that show inside of me, and gravitated to the positive energy I have always displayed.

No matter the circumstances, I have always maintained a positive outlook and attitude for those around me to see.  Very few people have ever seen me down for long, and if they have then they were very special people to me indeed.  God has granted me patience and discernment, and a slight ability to prophesy, but the most important thing that God has given me is the ability to excel under stress and pressure.  People that I used to work with at the State of Georgia used to call me a miracle worker and when I was in the Navy I could pull things together fast.  I learned who my key resources were and I just utilized them to my benefit, and I still do some of that in limited form today in my current life.

But, most importantly I am happy to say that when my world got a little darker yesterday afternoon.  I couldn't shake the nagging fear I was feeling nor could I get over the fact that I had been down this exact road not too very long ago, I wanted to bemoan and lament that it wasn't fair that I didn't want to do it again, and why me?  But something most extraordinary happened this very evening as I was sitting here writing my first blog entry.  I heard from someone who I had not thought I would ever hear from again. Someone I had once counted as a friend who I accidentally betrayed and sent away. It is sad but true we had parted on extremely bad terms, and I have had to deal with the guilt of that for almost 2 years.  As he got out of my car he turned and he looked at me and told me that I wasn't acting very much like a best friend, with that he closed the door and left me and that was the last time I laid eyes on him.  Yet, today a day when the world seemed to be crashing around my ears, the words that the doctors had told me yesterday were finally sinking in and I was feeling more and more like my life was spinning out of control my phone rang, and on the other end was the friend that I thought I had lost, and he was in trouble.  He needed me and I realized that I needed him just as much.

Funny how God has done that to the two us, there have been several times in our past that we have needed each other.  For years and years we had been there for each other and I let someone else into my life, and that person I don't know why or how colored my eyes against my friend and didn't want me to have anything to do with him.  I got mad at the wrong person and I did things that I am not proud of at all.  I turned my back on a friend, I didn't even listen to what he had to tell me. I made a snap and summary judgement because the person I was dating was trying to manipulate me and he did a good job.  As a matter of fact he almost destroyed me, and he damn near killed my friendship with this person.  Yet today when my mood was feeling low, and I was trying how I was going to handle all this knowledge that I had gotten from the doctor yesterday my phone rang and it was my friend Victory! He would kill me if he was here right now and saw the name that I have given him. But let me tell you something as far as I am concerned his is my Victory and my Triumph over this dread spirit that had come over me.  I had just tried to get in touch with him over the past weekend and out of the clear blue sky, my phone rang and it was him.  I am telling you it was a miracle, God knew what He was doing and He knew exactly who and what I needed to snap me out of this funk that was tangling me up in it's clutches.

I have to tell you that if ever 2 people needed each other it was the two of us. I had been feeling guilty about the past, and worried about the future. He was sitting in custody where he had been for 10 months, and he just tried my number after all of this time. Once I heard his voice and knew what he needed I didn't hesitate at all I sprang into action.  Within 2 hours I had talked to his mom, and the bondsman and knew that I was going to get him out of jail.  It would take me and his mom working together to pull this off but I knew what I was going to do before he even asked.  I am waiting for him to be released now.  I wish he was here, so I could honestly tell him thank you.  I mean that from the bottom of my heart.  I think we have saved each other several times over the years, but today he saved me from my own worst enemy...myself!

I have to take a brief moment here and say "Thank you my Heavenly Father for bringing him back into my life, I am so glad that I was here to help when I was needed.  You have sustained me and made it possible for all of these things to fall in place.  I never knew why you brought Lonnie and Alicia into my life but now I do, You did it so I would know who to call and what to do when today came.  Had it not been for the training and the ropes that those two put me through I would never have been able to accomplish everything that I did tonight. So thank you Lord for this training and blessing, I am sorry I have ever doubted that You.  I should have known that You kept me here just for this very moment."  Amen.

Moses wandered in the desert for 40 years and was humbled and trained to lead the children of Israel home from Egypt.  I was held in place and kept from moving on so that I could be in this exact place at the moment that I was needed.  There can be no other explanation, I had planned to move to PA and I have kept trying to get off of probation so I could go help my mother, yet something had tied me to Holly Hill and I haven't left yet.  It was the Hand of God restraining me and keeping me till I was needed.  I am thankful that I was here and that I was able to do my part.  I needed to hear my friends voice today, and he needed me.  So if you ask me that was definitely a miracle in and of itself.

So yes I believe in miracles, I believe that they happen around us everyday all day, and we are too wrapped up in ourselves and in our own lives that we miss them, but they are there if we just take some time and slow down long enough to appreciate them.  I have to tell you that today is one of the happiest days of my life.  It is not everyday that God grants you the ability to correct a wrong that you have committed against another person.  It also isn't too often that things fall into the right place so that we are available to respond to another person's need.  I am truly blessed that both of these things were available to me.

I have learned my lesson of that you can be sure, and I will never miss another miracle that comes my way, because I know what to look for now big and small.

I hope you do too.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

You know it is alright to agree to disagree.

I am sure that you have heard somewhere before in your life that everyone has an opinion and they are entitled to it.  I have been following a lively debate on Google + over Chick-fil-A, and trust me my opinion hasn't changed at all.  It is alright to agree to disagree with someone over their differing opinion.  Who is to say that you are right or they are wrong or vice-versa.  See, in this country everyone has a right to say what their opinion is, regardless of who it hurts or is insulted by it.  But that is okay because you have the right to voice your objections just as strongly.  Where the problem comes in if one person is so opinionated that they try to force their beliefs on everyone around them.

It is true that everyone has an opinion, it is further true that sometimes those opinions should be unspoken to the general public, but hey who am I too say?  Sometimes a remark can come off as derogatory or even inflammatory, so be careful how you state your case.  I am not saying that you should hold in your opinion, unless of course it will get you killed.  Like telling the gunman that he is a bully and you aren't going to give him your money. I don't think anyone would do that anyway.  I am just recommending that if you have something negative to say couch it in a way where people aren't necessarily going to be offended by it.

One of my defense mechanisms is that I make jokes about people when they do something that bothers me.  Most of the time the person I am directing it at has no clue that I am annoyed, and it takes them awhile to figure out that the joke was meant to get them to stop whatever it is.  People that have known me for years can tell right off when it is getting bad, and usually try to warn the person off. Because if they don't get it the first or second time, shame on them because when I get to the point I can't stand it anymore I go off like a cannon and I usually tear them apart. Verbally that is, in the gay world they call it reading someone.

Anyhow, there are some people that disagree with some of the things that I write, and that is okay because I expect them too.  The purpose of me writing these things is to stir up conversation and to get people to think about the things that are going on around them.  I don't care if people see it my way or not. Because at the end of the day the only opinion that matters to me is my own.  So yes, I have perfected the right to agree to disagree, because I think it is healthy to talk about things and discuss them, because maybe in the long run both of us are wrong, but unless we explore and talk about it how will we ever know.

So the next time someone says something that catches you off guard, and makes you immediately think "No you are wrong about this", stop a minute don't say anything, listen to their opinion and in a kind manner explain your position.  Again, the point is this will save you from an argument, which trust me most of the time they are pointless.  Arguments are hard to win because it is almost impossible to persuade someone that what they think is wrong.  I am just saying. I have been there and I am one that likes to argue just for arguments sake really. I don't care if I am right or wrong, with some people I automatically take the opposite side, just because I can.  There are times when I like to play devil's advocate and chose to word my opinion differently than someone else's and if they aren't quick enough they start to argue, and all I have done is repeat what they have said back to them slightly different, and guess what, an argument breaks out.  Until I point out that I agree with them and just had been twisting it around so they couldn't understand it.  I know that is mean but it can be a lot of fun.

Anyhow, the point I am trying to make is this, your opinion is neither right nor wrong, it is just your interpretation of something is. Another person's opinion is also neither right or wrong, it is just how they see something.  Take the time to fully listen to the other person, don't interrupt or cut them off (because you know that is so annoying to have someone start talking right over what you are saying). Of course I have been known to do that to others, so I cannot condemn anyone for it, just saying it is annoying. Anyhow, if you can come to a point in a discussion to say I agree to disagree with you and leave it at that, neither side gets their feelings truly hurt and an argument may be avoided.  Unless you are hanging out with me and I don't let it go...LOL...Just kidding.  Anyhow, point is take everything you hear with a grain of salt, and keep what is pertinent and push the other stuff aside, life is too short, to fight over whether you were right or they were.

Anyhow, that is all I really have to say on the subject is that if you really care about people and the person who is talking to you, give them the courtesy of listen to them totally out, and if you want give your own impression, but if you disagree with their position, maybe the better part of valor is to just let it go and chalk it up to the game of life and move on.  As I said life is too short and the precious moments we have don't need to be shared in arguments.  I would say keep your opinion to yourselves, but that would be falling on deaf ears, especially since I cannot seem to do.  But be respectful of another's opinion and give them benefit of the doubt and then just let it go. What can it hurt? right?

Anyhow, this week has been tough been job hunting and trying to update my blog and write entries and then squeeze in doctors on top of all of it.  So, just remember your opinion is as right and true as anyone else's and if you want to share them you can, but when someone disagrees, be ready to agree to disagree and let it be.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

A problem with organized religion and what the church has missed

I have been thinking a lot about the state of the world today and the role that the church plays in it.  To my dismay it has become evident that the whole christian church has missed the boat, their philosophy is their own and not that of Jesus.  Honestly, the church calls themselves christian, which means that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  The teach that the New Testament is the teachings and life of Jesus, so why don't they demonstrate in their preaching and lifestyle that they are believers.  How did they miss the boat, and why do they continue to teach hate and intolerance.  Each minister, pastor, priest, preacher and teacher has to go through extensive training via seminary to become ordained, yet they continue to focus primarily on the Old Testament.

This is a major dilemma for the church, because they are in the wrong. How did they miss the message that was sent and shown to them at Calvary, when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world?  How is it 2000 years later they still haven't figured it out.  Don't they know that if Jesus came back today that the modern church would be just as condemned as the church was 2000 years ago. That the religious leaders haven't changed, they are still doing the same things that Jesus told them was wrong way back then.  See, the problem is God gave 2 Covenants to the faithful, the first is discussed at great lengths in the Old Testament, it was governed and presided over by the Priests, the church was a tent that God had given exacting specifications on, there was a section in which God himself resided. This was called the Holy of Holies and only the High Priest was allowed to enter.  Sacrifices and atonement was made by the priests on behalf of the people and the law of the ten commandments was the governing laws of the time.

Problem is that Covenant ended when Christ chose to die at Calvary. His blood is the bridge that crosses the gap of original sin.  No longer did we need the priest to intercede on our behalf, we now have a direct link through Christ. He became the ultimate sacrifice, and through him we are saved and granted Salvation.  The old covenant between God and Abraham ended when as Jesus died the temple veil tore in two.  A person can now only be saved through Jesus, as He said "I am the way the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father accept through Me."  The new covenant that God gave to us through Jesus was much simpler, and gentler than the old covenant.  No longer did the Ten Commandments hold sway, because Jesus gave new commandments.  He gave a new direction and mission to the church.  The problem is the church by the time of Christ had grown into a bureaucracy and as with any large body is resistant to change.  Here we are 2000 years later and the church is still teaching out of the Old Testament, shoring up their fences with hatred, fear, intolerance and unfortunately they are terribly mistaken.

Being saved by Grace which is what the New Covenant is called, is all about love, patience, acceptance, and good will.  We are commanded to go out and be fishers of men, to give our testimony and lead others to Christ for salvation.  We were given just a few commandments to follow, Love one another as you love yourself, Children obey your parents so that your days may be many, go out and be fishers of men are the commandments that show that the face of God had changed, had become more tolerant and forgiving.  In this day and age the commandments have been integrated into our law system and protect all people. These are the guiding principles that we all strive to live by.  However, each denomination still denies anyone who doesn't believe exactly like they do, still cling to the old testament with was called being saved under the Law.  Law being Deuteronomy and Leviticus and the Ten Commandments.

There are so many things that they modern church preaches against that stem directly from the old testament and are repealed by the teachings of Jesus.  One of the things I a talking about is Homosexuality, in the Old Testament it was considered an abomination and punishable by death.  But in the New Testament there is something said that is totally different and keeps being over looked and not comprehended by hundreds of theologians and that is troubling that these scholars don't even believe what they claim as the gospel.  In Romans same sex interaction is again addressed, but this time you should read the passages very carefully because there is something hidden in them that is very enlightening and important for everyone to understand.  See it starts out something like this, bear with me I am doing this totally from memory.  When a man burns for lust for another and a woman yearns for another working that which is unseemly, those that do not keep God in their mind and heart will be turned over to a reprobate mind, and they become hater, backbiters, etc. the punishment of their ways are death.  However, further reading reveals that those that keep God in their hearts and mind receive the recompense of their ways is meet.  This is very important because it means that those of us that are gay and believe in God, are not forsaken, we are not an abomination, that we receive here on earth the recompense or payment for the error of their ways is meet, meaning we shall receive our punishment if you want to think of it that way here (meet).

So those that teach and think that you cannot be gay and christian aren't really christian either.  For they have missed the boat, they are clinging to the old testament like it is a life line and all it is, is an example to live a good life by. The old testament was created to control the large crowd of refugees that were liberated from the pharaoh by Moses, and led into the wilderness of the desert. Maintaining order and discipline would have been a nightmare and almost impossible if not for the ten commandments.  These laws and rules were put in place to ensure that compliance was mandatory, and the punishments for breaking them was swift and vicious, to ensure that they were obeyed.   But in  when Jesus came into the world the wandering in the desert was over, society and a nation were born and being ruled.  There were no longer any need for them or the punishments described in exodus and leviticus.  The old way wasn't working any longer and the church was taking advantage of the people and doing things that angered Jesus.  So He set out to show them by example how to live a life of purity and faith, He gave examples and extolled virtues in His sermons, He encouraged acceptance of everyone, no matter who or what they were.  He commanded that we love one another, to harm no one, to be obedient, to forgive, resist retribution and to bring His message of love and forgiveness to the world.

He condemned those who judged, He protected the weak and the lowly, and he walked with the common people.  He loved everyone equally.  We were to learn by his example, and to preach that God was a benevolent and forgiving God that loved us and cared for us because He had made us.  The message Jesus brought was of hope and love, kindness and understanding.  So why has the church missed this, why do they splinter and fracture over idiosyncratic beliefs.  Why are there so many different denominations all proclaiming that they are right and if you don't believe like them then you are truly not saved and unworthy of their help or support.  Why are we still hell bent on persecuting those that are different then us, judging them and casting aspersions upon them.  It isn't our place to judge anyone, because none of us are blameless, we were all born into original sin and separated forever from the love of God until we come to accept and are saved by Jesus.  How hard is it to see and understand?  When are they going to get it?  When will the church stop misleading people and embrace the truth the Jesus is the Son of God, and become real christian's and faithful to His teachings?

It is so  important for us to understand that no one has the right to judge us, tell us what we believe is right or wrong, and further we have a shining example of how we are supposed to live our life's and how we are supposed to act and react.  It isn't hard and Jesus is patient, and if you truly believe and are a christian you will understand that the church is wrong, and Jesus even made a provision for those of us who would eventually come to realize that the church is off track and heading for a big surprise when He comes again.  See Jesus told his followers about the church, warned them actually and gave the following provision to keep us safe from the wiles and pitfalls of the church..He said "When to or three are gathered there, I shall be also."  Amazing isn't it that Jesus had enough foresight to see that the church wasn't going to be the body to save the people that they were going to have to come directly to him and they didn't need to be in a huge congregation to do it.  They only had to have faith and worship him, with just two or three the Lord would be there.

Jesus's message is quite simple really Love each other and everything, be kind and gentle, practice forgiveness, extend understanding to everyone, and don't judge because what is right for you may not be right for someone else.  The easiest way to be a real christian is to ask yourself at each juncture "What would Jesus do", or WWJD.  Without a doubt something each of us should learn how to ask.  So, if you are not accepted by your church because you are different, or gay or just don't believe exactly along the same lines as them, be assured that you are not wrong, because God loves you and created you just as you are.  We are all flawed and imperfect and that is what makes us unique and totally human.  Love yourself and your fellow man, be helpful, kind, caring and compassionate and you cannot go wrong.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B