A Christ Follower: The Journey

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness;and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33  Jesus   An important question needs to be asked by those of us who are Christian Counselors, Spiritual Directors (or any other healers): "When is a problem spiritual and when is a problem psychological or neurological?"  First let's get this straight:  Our problems are never NOT psychological.  Our mind, will, and emotions (along with developmental issues) most likely do contribute something to our problems. They are most likely a part of resolving the difficulties of our lives.  Yet, our problems are never NOT spiritual.  God is always present; furthermore, it is never safe to remove our "spiritual armor."  (See Ephesians 6:10ff) The possibility of the deceiver deceiving us never ends.  If we believe negative untruths, (or lies we have in our heads) they will make us dysfunctional.  If we transform our minds with healthy spiritual truths, we will move ...

 " All the ways of humanity are pure in each ones own eyes.  But the LORD weighs the spirits.  Commit your works to the LORD and your thoughts will be established ." Proverbs 16:1-2   Back in the day when I was still wearing the blue suit, ran 4 to 6 miles a day, was a whole lot lighter, and I had darker and more voluminous hair; I served as the Chaplain for the 549 th Squadron located at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida.  (Located close to Cape Canaveral.)  The 549 th was a "Wart Hog" squadron.  Now before you think we were pig farmers, let me tell you that this weird name "Wart Hog" was the name for one of the most vicious subsonic  tank killers around.  I am talking, of course, about the A10 subsonic bomber.   The 549 th also was the home of O2s and OV 10s.   These were the F orward A ir C ontrollers who put their lives on the line "up front" and unarmed to insure that the jets and "boots on the ground" were in position, had a g...

Hi Everyone, Please take some time to think about what follows.  It could change your life: Commands being given from higher ranking to lower ranking personnel are common in the life of a military person,  and these orders have a way of helping them order their lives.  Sometimes following solid orders actually have been known to save a military person's life. Since the beginning of our nation, God's 10 Commands, greatly influenced and structured our national life.  They actually helped order our lives.  Our Supreme Court has these commands written on and or in its architecture.  As our laws were created, they had as their foundation the ancient wisdom predicated on thousands of years of historical wisdom provided, at least partially, by these commands.  "In God we trust" finds its foundation in the teaching of these 10 liberating limits that have ordered our cultural life.  These 10 sign posts for navigating life became a bed rock moral compass for guiding our individ...

Hello To Anyone That Knows A Veteran: This is a shout out to everyone, anywhere regarding any Vets that you may know.  PLEASE ask your Veteran friends to sign up with the VA.  Fill out those forms.  (Yes, I know this can be a challenge) It can even be a headache, with all the paper work and bureaucracy .  But  This is important!  The VA is opening its doors to ALL vets to "get their names in the hat" so to speak. Will you notice any difference, immediately??? NO... not immediately; however, we are expanding the playing field because we are learning that, as Vets age, they have complications or illnesses that are indeed attached to their lives as  soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines.   The problem is that many will never know until it is way too late; however,  if they are all ready in the system, then it will be much easier for them to get help.  My Dad was at the tip of this spear and he had been out of the military since WW2.  He is now getting significant assistance that ...

STINKING THINKING.... It can fowl up your life.  It can cause you strife. It can allow toxic emotions to send you down into a spiral of unnecessary pain, shame, guilt and disdain.  STINKING THINKING can bust up a fellowship, trip up a friendship, destroy a beautiful relationship, and make your life a fragmented trip to a point of NO return.  So PLEASE spurn STINKING THINKING!  Now its one thing to say don't let STINKING THINKING  be your guide.  It is quite another to figure out how you can do anything about it... NO JIVE!  Yet, I think you can make a plan that will help you gain the upper hand over ST you see.  So you say to me, "Man What's the plan?  I have allowed ST to really hurt me and I wanna know what I gotta know to be a person of grace and put 'STINKING THINKING' in its place." Well, let me tell you friend, I have had my share of STINKING THINKING on my end of life, and I have had my share of the strife... and all the  stuff  that keeps me from being...

Before reading this blog entry, be sure to read the previous "part one."    So how do we begin to help a Vet, others who have been traumatized or, even you the reader, begin to gain a healthy spirituality.  A beginning would be to help the person re-frame who God is to them.  I call this  spiritual cognitive behavior.  Let's replace the "unholy" unhealthy scripts (scriptures) in an individuals soul with more "holy" or healthy scripts (Scriptures)   First let's mention a few of the views of God a traumatized person might have :   God is not dependable.  God just let's things happen no matter what the consequences.  God to this person could be viewed as  unkind, uncaring and unreliable.  It would be difficult for a traumatized person to see God as "love."   God certainly would not be someone that would care about the individual or keep the individual safe.   God might be considered a being who abandons "you."  And God would...

Over the years I have learned that America is jam packed loaded with people who are dysfunctional out the wazoo.  This is largely due to the abuse and pain that has been passed on from one generation to the next; for example all kinds of dysfunction results from the following stuff: Verbal abuse: This is where a child is cursed at, sworn at and called a less than gentle version of what use to be called an illegitimate child.  This also includes the child being told "you will never amount to anything!"  Or "Why can't you be like your brother/sister?"  In other words derogatory words were pounded on the child and into the child as the parent's (or parent type) pain was unleashed on an innocent.  (BTW.. a parent type is a coach, teacher, scout leader, church leader.... any adult in authority over the child who influenced various areas of the child's life.) Physical abuse:  What the words did not do, the fist,  and other utilized objects did.   Emotional ab...