Month: June 2019

The alarm clock on my iPhone jolts me from a deep sleep at 0230 in the morning at the beginning of my work week.  It is the very tangible thing that tells me ready or not I have committed myself to the day ahead.  In a few hours, I will behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, sitting in the madness of Boston area rush hour traffic, trying to find a way to balance the focus it takes to get the job done safely and keeping my sanity and emotions on an even keel.

And as I sit on the side of the bed for a few minutes, it is during this time that I am keenly aware of just how many times I have traveled around the sun.  Even though people tell me all the time that you do not look “that old”.  Well, that may be true but the body along with all of its working parts are screaming something much different.

As I grow older I find a fascinating thing happening.  It appears that my inner spirit seems to have a more relaxed calm and peacefulness that allows me to navigate this ever-growing complexity of life.  That, of course, is a very good thing.

On the other hand, however, I seem to not want to tolerate the stupidity of others that I so easily tolerated many years ago.  Which means that I am supposed to show the maturity and wisdom that I have acquired over the years to respond a lot better than before.  I think for the most part I am doing pretty well in that area.

I imagine that this happens to us all as we go through different life stages. I would think that the sooner we accept that we are constantly changing, the easier the impact of the change will be.

One of the things that I have noticed also is that we can easily get distracted from our life goal projects with all the daily mundane that consumes a lot of our time.  And our challenge is to balance our pursuit of life goals with the responsibilities of daily living.

I think some of the real frustrations that we feel comes from the struggle to balance these necessities.  Countless time management books and strategies have emerged to help us to keep a sense of sanity in our lives as we navigate our overscheduled lifestyles.  Let’s be honest for a moment.  Have you found a sure fire way that the gurus promise to bring sanity back into your life?  I dare to say if all of the methods that have been proposed and tried was working for the masses, then they would be out of business.

I find it interesting that God, in fact, addresses this very topic in the Bible. I am always amazed that he knows the emotional ups and downs and worries that plague our lives from time to time.  He gives pretty specific instructions about how to cope with this wave of emotions that we experience.  Consider what wisdom we get from Phillippians 4:6 NKJV:

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Incredible that God wishes us not to be anxious.  As a matter of fact, this verse makes it pretty clear that we are to be anxious for nothing. Really? Nothing? Can you name some things that you and I are anxious about?  Rent, Mortgage,  relationships, money, college or school performance, car problems, high gas prices?  Any number of things can make us anxious. World tensions, crime, relentless evil, and the list is long of things that can steal our peace and joy.

It seems that the antidote according to the scripture is to first address our anxieties with prayer.  That is simply telling God what is on our hearts and minds.  Yes, he knows in advance what we are dealing with, but the conversation is a way of talking to someone who understands in a way that no one else does.  Therefore you can tell him all of your fears regarding the things that trouble you.  You cannot overwhelm him with your worries.  As a matter of fact, he actually wants to hear it all.

The attitude of gratitude seems to play a big role in lessening our anxieties.  I think most of us have said from time to time, that perspective can make your problems seem less than perhaps what someone else is going through.  For example, you may be complaining about aggravating knee pain, until you pass a man on the street in a wheelchair who has a leg amputation above the knee!

So being thankful for our current condition even though it may seem counterintuitive, will lessen the intensity of what we are feeling.  With the mindset of thankfulness to God, we can then have confidence that he cares enough and that he has proven it over and over.  We acknowledge what he has already done on our behalf.  It is from this point that we can then ask or rather make our requests be known to him.

Now the interesting part here is that the emotional calm and peace that is to come is not generated from within ourselves.  Who knows how to give you and I the exact peace to calm our minds and hearts?  Yes, of course, God. The peace originates with him so that it goes beyond our understanding of how we can feel calm even in the middle of a storm.  Jesus Christ who also has the title of Prince of Peace is the one who will guard our hearts and minds.

Jesus gave us a unique example of just how to have peace in the middle of a storm literally.  In the gospels, it is noted that a severe storm came upon the lake as Jesus and his disciples were crossing to the other side.  Jesus was sound asleep in the stern of the boat while the waves roared about so much that the experienced seamen were fearful for their lives.  They woke him up wondering if he even cared about the peril they were enduring.  They were no doubt anxious, even more so they were worried and afraid.

But the Prince of Peace simply wakes up and says to the storm, “Peace be still.”  Listen to the gospel account.

³⁹ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” ⁴¹ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

While I cannot fault those in the boat with feeling the fear, because in each of our lives we are confronted with storms that will shake us to the core.  It is in these times that we need to be reminded of our faith in Jesus Christ, who can easily calm the storms in our heart just as easily as he calmed the actual storm on the seas.

 

 

 

 

To friends, fans and acquaintances: Merry Christmas.  A big thank you to all who read a blog, purchased a book or attended a book signing.  I am deeply honored.

And a special shout out to my cycling friends who have encouraged me to go deeper into the cycling obsession.  But to be honest, maybe I am not as obsessed as those who still put on three layers and ride in 30 degree weather!  Have you seen a bundled up Gargoyle on a bike?

Besides I have to justify my $10 per month Planet Fitness membership by showing up during the cold weather season, although I would rather be setting PR’s (personal record) on a stretch of black top that is 90 degrees or above.  But because I love dancing on the elliptical or indoor bike, I show up more frequently.  I tolerate the image of a middle age guy gerbil racing on the treadmill next to a good looking 30 something lady that I cannot keep up with, just to find out that she is 50 something!  Ughh.  Therapy is needed for my bruised ego.  LOL

Well, enough of me, I hope you all spend some quality time with friends and family, and if God is willing we shall meet again in 2018!

Love Always,

Eugene

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, at this very moment of 0424 in the morning, I wanted to let you know that I have all of you, my friends on my mind.  I don’t always convey that you cross my mind daily because in truth, you do not.  As the busy things of life consume most of daily and survival demands that we focus on job one.

However, I love those times we I can slow down and reflect on the things and people that matter.  Now I will not name you all, but trust me YOU are someone that matters, especially if you are taking the time to read this.

You know those short messages and greetings from people on facebook that say just enough to let you know how much they care?  I wish I could express all of the feelings in my heart contained in just a small paragraph!  My heart is a deep ocean of thoughts when it comes to you.  But I will spare you the necessity to taking a whole DAY away from shopping to read the novel of things I could say about you and what it means to be blessed with a few meaningful friends.

So I will convey the following:  (Why does this sound like a condemned man with final words?)  Anyway, because I have not reached out on a personal level like I want to, I will be making a special effort to call you if I have your number, and I would also encourage you to do the same for your friends as well.

And

 

March 13, 2016

I am heading up the road north on I-95 toward Lewiston Maine. It is a pretty nice day and very spring like with the sun out shining brightly. As always I have a few things on my mind this Sunday morning that pertain to life and things eternal, and all things God. Unfortunately this week my beloveds stepdad Peter died this week. And even though it was not a surprise because he had cancer and other ailments, still it was not pleasant to hear even though it was expected. But even still when death has set it’s sight on a person, and the end is near and everybody can clearly see it within weeks to come, it brings a whole lot of feelings and emotions that we have not dealth with in a very long time, and we do not like to deal with at all.

But because death is the great equalizer and reminds us all of the way we shall go it is sobering none the less. So because of that God has kind of put in my heart to address these subjects, and to get more clarification, first to me, and then to anyone else who would be willing to listen.

As I visited this guy Peter in the hospital, I immediately thought of his soul state, whether salvation had been granted to him. And to be honest I had this sense of fear that he was not in a good state spiritually with God. Having understood that, and knowing that he may not know what lies ahead on the other side, and that there is a day of reckoning for us all, a day of judgement. I felt compelled toward letting him know that before he leaves this earth he needs to make his peace with God. And while I do not think I was forceful enough in doing so, I did manage to pray with him briefly that God would bring to his remembrance his loving kindness, his saving grace, his mercy and love, and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. Jesus being the only way to have sin dealt with to escape the punishment and wrath of God that he has set forth for unrepentant people.

And so with that, I never approached the subject again, knowing that it is each of our responsibility to make amends with God. And I know that he has had the opportunity in his lifetime to make amends with God. Anyway for the rest of us who look at that situation and see dread and fear. Debbie was crying, and I have a understanding of that because she has known him for a very long time, as a matter of fact she was responsible for putting Peter and Janet his wife together. And I come into this situation with a base knowledge of God and life and death issues. I come from a point where I am emotionally grounded, in these types of events. So much so that I have to take a step back and realize that I am living with and dealing with people who are not, emotionally or spiritually grounded, in these areas.

And because of that I was very grateful to God that he orchestrated some events in my life, and got me thinking about my own immortality, and he knows I have had a longing to learn a lot about that. And I have read God’s word and seen what that has to say, but more importantly with the revelation of the Holy Spirit, about what life and death has, God has also been teaching me through other people and divine teaching. See for me it got down to me wanting to know a lot of general answers to things in life. I mean big questions that a lot of people have in their hearts and minds, but it only comes up every now and then in general conversation. But I had a whole lot of questions that I needed answers for. And like TD Jakes has said, the things that I went searching for, I only found it in one area that had the answers to the questions that I had.

What kind of questions did I have? Things like, me, starting with me. How did I get here? Why am I here? How is it that I never thought of God in my early childhood to the degree that I do now? How come I have these tendencies to want to know about life on the other side, after I die. I had questions about death itself. Why does anyone have to die? These are questions that plagued me for a very long time.

Some other questions that I needed answers for as I looked at the human race and the human condition, were. Why do people kill, why do people murder, and rape? Why are people vile? Why do people use vulgar language? Why do people choose to become homosexuals and engage in same sex marriage? Why do people choose to hate others and behave the way that they do? These were the questions that I needed answers to.

And the more I read and the more I dug into God’s word, not only did I get the answers, but it was the only answers that made any sense to this whole puzzle called life. So I got my answers. But more importantly I got my answers from the one person who knows everything. The person who has the answers. I did not get it from a president, or a college, I did not get them from a text book. They do not have nearly enough information. They do not have enough wisdom or insight to give me the answers that my heart was searching for. Because now that I have these answers, I can see the big picture now when I look about me in the world. I can see things falling into place like a puzzle. And as such, I am not easily moved emotionally by everything that I see around me. Because I know the answer maker and he has everything under control.

So getting back to a question I had about spirituality, and how does my spirit operate in this body? I find it very interesting that the Bible speaks about being born again. Now to be born again, suggests that you have to be born at least one time prior. Here is the mystery, our body is only one third of all that we are. There are three parts of us, we are the physical body, we are a spirit, and we are a soul, ie the conscious emotions.

And I find it very interesting that when I was born on this planet, my body came onto this planet it was joined up with a spirit, the conscious part of me that exists now. But there is another part of me that did not have a relationship with God at all. That part of my spirit was dead. So much so that I was literally born with a body that is dying, and born spiritually dead to the things of God. Meaning that I had no relationship, no cognizance of my heavenly father God.

Here, let me make it pretty simple for you. You know if you have a child, or you are in a close relationship with someone, husband wife, girlfriend boyfriend, or family member, brings about the fact that you think about them on a regular basis, because you have an ongoing relationship with them, and you are alive to the union and bond that you share with that other person. Therefore they will be on your mind quite often if not all of the time.

Well when it comes to our spiritual relationship with God, if we are born spiritually dead, we are born with no relationship to him at all, and thereby our mind cannot have thoughts ongoing toward him. Now we can thank our good friends Adam and Eve for that. You see it was not always like this. For back in the garden when they decided to introduce sin into this world, the moment that they took of the fruit so to speak, and partook of the knowledge of good and evil, that was the moment that they severed their relationship with God. Not only did they severe it for them, but for everybody else who would be born after them. As a result everybody born after them would enter the world with no spiritual relationship to God and no capacity or inclination to think of God. Their inner spirit was to be literally born dead. And as a result, well here we are.

We come on this planet with no knowledge of God, no inclination to want to know anything about God and in some of the more extreme cases, not having the ability to acknowledge the very existence of God. At this state when person is born, God is foreign to the person and in some cases the person can even become hostile to the notion of something called God.

Think about how many times during the day, that you think about God. That is probably in direct proportion to your relationship to him. So if several days to several weeks goes by and anything about God has not crossed your mind, you might want to consider if you have any inclination toward him. If you have no relationship with something or someone you do not think about it. It never crosses your mind, for example. Say right now in Brazil there may be someone there who is a distant cousin to someone, but because I have no direct relationship to them, I do not know anything about them, as a matter of fact I do not know that they exist. Therefore their name never crosses my mind. None of their impact in this world crosses my mind., and yet they still exist. I have no direct knowledge of this, and somebody can tell me that they exist, I may not want to believe that this person does exist. But yet they could be there in the flesh. So it is with our relationship in the spirit world with God. We come on this planet spiritually dead, and as a result we are spiritually dead to the attributes and the characteristics of God.

Some notable characteristics of God are, love, joy, peace, long suffering and all the good things that make up God. We come on this planet born, without that spiritual character in us, and so we cannot experience that. All we can produce and operate in is the natural state of mind that we have. We can produce hate, anger, evil, lying, murder, immorality, these things we produce naturally and without any effort, because it is our natural state when we are born. We do not have to be taught these things. You do not have to go to school to learn the dark side of our human state. You never have to take a kid, take him to the third grade and teach him how to steal. You don’t have to take a child put him in a class room and teach him how to lie, curse, hit others.

You do not have to tell little Johnny how to disobey the ten commandments or how to sin. No you do not have to teach any of us how to sin, because that comes naturally. It’s natural to us just like breathing air. Has anyone ever taught you how to sin properly? Has anyone ever instructed you on how to tell a lie? Has anyone ever instructed you on how to curse? How about how to be mean to someone?

Now let’s take a look at the other and more difficult side of our humaness. Do we have to be taught how to love, how to be kind, and how to be forgiving? Yes it seems that it has to be learned.

So let me explain about the answers that I got. I come to find out, and there is much biblical scripture to back up what I am about to say, that when we physically die, the body dies, at that moment what is happening is a separation from the spirit and the body. The conscious man is still very much aware of everything that is going on around him. The physical body is dead, as it has no pain or feelings of any kind. But the conscious part is still very much aware of feelings and emotions. At the moment of death that spirit is separated from the body and is whisked away to the presence of God for those who are born again, or for those who have not been born again, then that spirit will go into a literal temporary holding place called hell. And there it will remain until God raises up the entire world again, meaning that every person on the planet who has ever lived will be raised up again, the actual physical body raised, and those spirits will be rejoined into a resurrected body, to stand before almighty God in what is known as the great white throne judgement.

Which means that he is literally going to judge everybody. Every man, woman and child, will have a day of judgement before him. And there you will be, very much conscious, very much aware, in a resurrected body, waiting for sentencing.