Find Religion

In chemistry, He turned water to wine.
In biology, He was born without the normal conception;
In physics, He disapproved the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven;
In economics, He disapproved the law of diminishing return by feeding 5000 men with two fishes & 5 loaves of bread;
In medicine, He cured the sick and the blind without administering a single dose of drugs,
In history, He is the beginning and the end;
In government, He said that he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace;
In religion, He said no one comes to the Father except through him;
So? Who is He? He is Jesus! Join me and let’s celebrate him; He is worthy. The eyes beholding this message shall not behold evil, the hand that will send this message to everybody shall not labor in vain, and the mouth saying amen to this prayer shall smile forever.
Remain in God and seek his face always Amen!
In God I’ve found everything!
The Greatest Man in History Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

And to all a good night! Wheew! Are you all as glad it’s over as I am? I love going to see everyone and making special memories. I can do without the added stresses and tensions that can come with the season like an unwanted virus. This time of year often feels like a huge emotional wave that comes overtakes me with sentimental feelings of nostalgia of Christmas magic from when I was a kid. Knowing now what my mother went thru to make the holidays special even as she worked full time really fills me with so much love and appreciation for her care and thoughtfulness. What care she took to pick out gifts and wrap them beautifully for us. She’d make us little letters that ‘Santa’ would leave for us thanking us for our delicious cookies. She had everything dialed in from the onion dip to the homemade pumpkin pie. She did everything with what appeared to be such ease. Every Christmas is infused with her recipes, her love, our traditions and a great need to make everything special, wonderful and delightful for us kids.

I’m the opposite of my mother’s grace. I can make onion dip and pumpkin pie. But not without the fire alarm going off or the phone ringing or something to pull me away from my task. My mom always seemed so focused and methodical in her work. She wasn’t often distracted and was able to go to task without being pulled left & right by this, that & the other. Me, on the other hand; my life seems to delight in running me around and wringing me out. Flipping me around like it’s own little red rag waving in a tornado force wind. Life doesn’t twidder about me like the bluebirds of happiness. It batters me with it’s forces of energy. I feel like a tilting planet all it’s own sometimes with my own gravitational force. I long for that seeming paradise of calm, cool & collected that my mom can achieve. I wish she’d share the recipe for that! That is what I am craving right now!

I hope the season brought you joys from Christmas past, blessing on Christmas now and peace for the coming new year’s future. It’s not time to drop the fun of giving though. I have a couple things I received that I can’t use or return so I will donate them or pass them to someone who may be able to use and appreciate them. I also have a big pot of soup to make from the turkey carcass we brought home from a holiday gathering. I will make soup up and freeze it in quarts to give away. It’s always nice to have homemade soup. I also have some more fudge wrapped up that needs to get out of here before I eat anymore of it! I think the mailman has his name on some!

Every baby is Jesus’ perfection trying to be seen and acknowledged and reborn again and again. We can see it if we have the eyes, heart & hormones of a mother, or a vivid enough imagination that could imagine such as so. The love of a mother and the power a mother feels as she nourishes & sustains life, gives birth and continues to sustain that life with milk made from her own body, is the key, integral relationship in any human life. This is an act  so full of dynamism that any peace loving culture should rely on breastfeeding as a great beginning to creating happy, well-adjusted people thru out the world as a whole today. Lack of bonding as we can sometimes see in bottle fed babies, who miss out on the breast and the close mother/child bond, creates a population that is more enamored by the achieving of material gains then relating on a heart & soul human level with other human beings.  As we can see in the world today these shifted values have altered the path the world is on to a degree that has bred and nurtured people who are hell bent on greed, war, destruction and other traits that come from the damaged, improperly nurtured psyche.

Mary didn’t milk any of the barn animals for milk for baby Jesus. She nourished Him with milk from her own body. This act is a woman’s sacred art and has shaped futures of children from the beginning of time. Making milk for an infant can be a joy and a pleasure. It is certainly a lot of work for the body. Milk holds everything, every nutrient and satisfaction for a child; mind, body & soul. The act of breastfeeding instills innately the preciousness and value and worthiness of taking the best care, time & energy with your child. The care that come thru breastfeeding plays a role in the formation of every relationship thereafter. Ecological breastfeeding-when the breast is given on demand, without the use of bottles or pacifiers, can also suppress fertility, as the body adjusts so beautifully to accommodate the mother’s & child’s needs.

Any act such as breastfeeding which requires such devotion & sacrifice on a person’s part automatically makes the act a sacred one. Any sacred act infuses the preciousness and worth that we as a society lack in today. We wouldn’t have 1/2 the wars & murder or even depression, suicide or basic dissatisfaction with life if we had just given our children their birthright; our milk. Or more accurately-their milk. And she gives until it hurts. As they need. To establish their selves as such to value all life around us. This is one of the fatal flaws we make as humanity in not being absolutely blessed and supportive of the breastfeeding mother. It is a wound in the psyche that can not be healed or filled with any other outside resources and have the same impact it has when given from the source.

Breastfeeding stimulates important nurturing hormones called prolactin & oxytocin which induce feelings of contentment & satisfaction in not only the mother & child but also in anyone who even witnesses the act of breastfeeding! These are the same hormones that are produced when an orgasm is achieved.

We were created for ecstasy & bliss! Our whole system supports this but cultural & societal norms have altered this natural path & disrupted the core of the essence of our being.

Breastfeeding also reduces the likelihood of a woman getting breast cancer.

Support your hardworking mothers!

Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.”

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.

And, whatever they’re going through, they’ll be a better person in the end.

“Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.”

Since we can’t seem to give peace a chance, let’s try love for a change. Put some love in your hearts! The holidays aren’t about racing around trying to find something cheap to buy someone you love. Really, it’s not. Yet we find ourselves and see so many doing so. Put some love in your heart! Try love for a change. If you can’t get there on your own, put some lovely music on. Something that evokes the spirit of tenderness and love. Do whatever you have to to try love for a change. Be inspired! Think back, oh sweet memory if nothing holds love for you now. Where is the love? Try love for a change. It starts in the heart. It starts by shutting off the brain to the barrage of intellectualized reasons why we move in haste and often without a genuine smile. Try love for a change. Find your smile. When you have done that, you know you have love in your heart. Feed the flame of love. Stoke the stove heartily with fuel so the embers can heat thru any iciness and melt down the walls that keep us from really connecting. Slow down. Listen to some great music that you love. If it is holiday music, even all the more inspiring! Find your smile. Share it willingly. You never knows who needs that smile the most. Probably the person you want to smile at the least. Find the joy in your heart that isn’t based on expectations of anything but delight. Haste is a form of violence. If we can all slow down, find out inner love song, put on a genuine smile, I know that tomorrow will be a better day. Join me, won’t you? <[;>)

I’m certain a numerologist could have a field day with the numerical significance of these numbers in correlation with the verses. It would be interesting…

When things get tough, always remember…
Faith doesn’t get you around trouble, it gets you through it.

Center of the Bible.

Q: What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

A: Psalms 117

Q: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

A: Psalms 119

Q: Which chapter is in the center of the Bible?

A: Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalms 118

Add these numbers up and you get 1188.

Q: What is the center verse in the Bible?

A: Psalms 118:8

Q: Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect will for our lives?

The next time someone says they would like to find

God’s perfect will for their lives and that they want to

be in the center of His will, just send them to the

center of His Word!

Psalms 118:8

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
Now isn’t that odd how this worked out (or was God in the center of it)?

Do you know what that means? It means give up something of value to yourself so you can bring joy & humanity to others who may be without. Give something that is your own; give what you want. Give something that is comforting and warm. A hat, scarf or mittens. Slippers or homemade soup and bread. A warm smile, nod, handshake or hug. Give something you love and would want for yourself. Cloak a part of your world with kindness and warmth. Give something you could keep yourself but out of the goodness of your heart you want to share that which you already strive for and love. Nourish someone. Give them sustenance for life. Heart & soul. This is why we are here. To do so eases wrongs and sets the world right. To do so is a sign of spiritual & emotional maturity. To delay one’s own gratification for the needs and fulfillment of another is one of the highest forms of intellectualized spiritual truth that represents a high level of emotional maturity. This maturity serves as a lifeline of grace & peace to an all too often gray & hardscrabble world. Behaving as such sends a very important message into your life and into the world around us. A message that lingers and sings words of Hope, Joy, Charity, Faith & Love. In today’s world-this is revolutionary! Viva La Revolution! No pain, no gain! Get giving! It hurts so good!

I have my email account with yahoo, so every day when I log online to check my emails, I also browse the Yahoo news stories of the day. I like to stay informed, after all, but I can’t stand to what the evening news. Today, there was a very interesting article on the homepage called “What to do do when you hate your job,” with tips like avoiding needless perfection to cope with an overwhelming job, asking for advice to cope with a job you’re not trained to do, networking for a better job if you do choose to leave, and approaching your boss is a non-confrontational method if you’re unhappy with his or her leadership. As I sat their reading the article, I realized that these same tips can apply to religion.

After all, what do you do when you hate your religion?

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Thought book burning was a thing of the past? Think again. Our network might be called “451″ to play on the classic book “Fahrenheit 451″, but I had hoped that book burnings weren’t really something we’ve have to deal with…ever. I mean, sure, there are those nutty people who still burn books. But they buy the books, then burn them. Hell, go ahead. Every time you buy a book to burn, you’re putting royalties in the author’s pocket. More can always be printed.

And then I came across this story. She was storing her books, and the other person took it into her own hands to take of of them and burn it, simply because the word magic was in the title. It was a REFERENCE book.

For every book that is burned, I hope that the press it brings gets at least five or so people to READ that burned book. As a Christian, I am deeply hurt that anyone would do something like this in the name of religion. That’s the problem with finding a religion that fits - you’ll never agree with everyone. There will always be those who make you ashamed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ — To help Christians better understand the roots of their faith, Rev. Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection near Kansas City, has released a new book, “Christianity’s Family Tree: What Other Christians Believe and Why.” (Abingdon Press)

In the book he retraces church history and the movements that shaped eight major denominations and encourages their adherents to listen and learn from one another. He seeks to find common ground among the various branches, and unique emphases within each that help enrich the others.

The statement recently released by the Pope about Protestants being “defective,” for example, offended many non-Catholics. Hamilton cautioned against over-reaction. “Unfortunately the history of Christianity is characterized by our tendency to focus on what divides us rather than what unites us,” Hamilton said.

“We are all defective in some way. Is it possible that God looks at us as we look at our own children? That we are each different and unique, yet equally loved, and that God delights in our differences?”

Hamilton extends an approach started in earlier works, examining major world religions and the most controversial issues of our time. “Christianity and World Religions” explores the histories of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam, compares and contrasts them with Christianity, and discusses what Christians might learn from them.

Issues like abortion, homosexuality, war, creation and church/state separation continue to make news and act as a lightning rod for those holding opposing views. In “Confronting the Controversies,” Hamilton encourages readers to understand why people hold opposing views, and to be humble and willing to listen to others as they form their own.

Not afraid of controversy, Hamilton believes the best way forward includes listening, understanding and humility. “We will never all agree on all these issues, nor that our particular brand of faith practice isn’t better than others, but learning about each other and trying to understand why people believe as they do only enriches our own faith,” Hamilton said.

Note to Editors: Rev. Hamilton is available for interviews; review copies are available upon request.

Contact: Melany Ethridge at 972-267-1111 or via Melany@alarryross.com.

Every day, I hear the same complaints from those against the Christian religion. We’re too close-minded. We’re too unappreciative of diversity. We’re too exclusive. We’re too confined.

And you know what? I get it. Some of that is true for some people. I’ll even say that a lot of that is true for a lot of people. But (and there always is a but), is that the religion’s fault or is that the fault of interpretation?

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Ok, I know that there are people out there who don’t let their kids read Harry Potter. And honestly, I think some parents are letting their children read them at too young of an age. They are a bit gruesome in places, and although we shouldn’t shelter our children, we definitely should make sure that things are appropriate for certain age leaves. But I digress.

What really bothers me is the people who use religion as a way to to to censor Harry Potter and other books where characters use magic. Today, Kelly at Tiny Treasury, talked about Laura Mallory, one of the most famous anti-Potter mothers in the United States. She in June, she actually took her case to the Supreme Court, trying to get them banned.

Here’s the thing. Even if the books DO promote witchcraft (they do not), why is it to be assumed the Wicca and other pagan religions are hurting our children? We still say “under God” during the pledge of allegiance and we still allow books like “Are You There God?, It’s Me, Margaret” to have a place on the shelves of our libraries. From the perspective of someone practicing Wicca, aren’t those things as harmful to them and their children as Harry Potter allegedly is to Christian children?

The answer is no. I don’t care what religion you are, if you do not allow your children to explore and learn about other religions, that how can they truly be Christian? I firmly believe that to be a true Christian you have to have a choice, and to have a choice you must learn, from an unbiased perspective, about other religions. Only then can you really accept that Jesus is your savior and all other religions are false (if that’s what you choose to believe).

All I’m saying is that a good parents shouldn’t have to worry about Harry Potter or about “Under God” or whatever. If you want your child to grow up as a Christian or an atheist or anything in between, that’s great–but let him or her actually decide that. Otherwise, their allegiance to your religion is false. They only subscribe to it because they don’t know any better.

I’d be really interested to hear from people on both sides of this debate. Should Harry Potter be banned? Does it teach children bad things?

Harry Potter, religion, Wicca, witchcraft, banned books

Every day, I see more and more controversy surrounding the growing homosexual population in America. Is it “right”? Should gay couples marry? Can a Christian nation welcome gays or would that chip away at the core of what we stand for? My friend Lyndsey, at Lez Keep it Real, recently talked about the upcoming presidential elections, and I can see easily that the GLBT debate is going to be a huge player for many Americans when choosing a candidate to endorse.

So I’m tackling the subject myself. What I say here is not based on the teachings of any church. It’s based on how I morally feel, taking into account my Christian upbringing. I hope that you do two things: 1) Read to the end before leaving a comment (positive or negative) and 2)open your mind to at least the exploration of the idea that maybe God is making some people gay on purpose.

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I’m out soaking up the sun at the beach for a week, so a number of my bloggin’ friends are guest posting for me! Today’s guest poster is Jean Lockwood from Parenting and Religion. Enjoy!

My personal belief of anyone looking for religion, is that they can find what they are really looking for only through relationship with God.

Relationship is a two way street. You can’t have a relationship with someone unless they participate. I am a Christian, and believe that God participates through communicating with us in many ways-Nature, other people, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our way to God, He is the one who opens the door for us to have fellowship (communication) with the Father (God). Good relationship requires 2 who are willing to do their part. God has already done His part- sending a way to meet with Him through Jesus. We need to do our part- accepting the way He has made through Jesus, and fellowshipping with Him.

Some people think you have to use certain words or prayers to talk to God, but you don’t. You can talk to Him like you would talk to your best friend; open, honest, and from the heart. He knows everything going on inside you anyhow, so why not be honest? Relationship is about loving; offering and accepting forgiveness; giving encouragement; talking; offering and accepting forgiveness; and living in a way that honors the other.

How is your relationship/religion? I would encourage you to seek God, talk to Him, ask Him to show you how to find relationship with Him. He will you know.

religion, relationships, relationship advice, religious advice, relationship with god, god, Jesus

A few final thoughts from Hillary. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, hun!

Hello Everyone!!!

Hillary