The Process Of Life vs The Process Of God In Our Life

Greetings,
While I was receiving my chemo treatment today,I was thinking about my process of life;you know,a review of my past;my accepting Jesus and my "heart change",the ups, the downs,the blessings,my family,my friends etc.Those of you that know me are aware that one of my commonly used phrases is"that's the process of life".The spirit put on my heart to talk about,and compare that phrase to God's process in our life.
Now this letter will be interesting,because I don't know where I'm going with this.I suppose that has been true of all my letters.The Holy Spirit guides me and I write;I haven't shared that thought with you before,however,I am sure you would agree it's much easier on the "set up" if you know what your goal is.All I know is this voice in my heart says,write about this subject and I will guide you.AMAZING!
I will use just one example in my life to compare the 2 processes;I know there are many I could use,however,my diagnosis of cancer has changed me so many different ways,lets use "it" as a starting point.
.The life process
The statistics show one out of every two men born in America today will die of cancer,and one of every three women.I mention this, because I am sure most of us have experienced someone in our life "getting"cancer or dying from this terrible disease[perhaps it's the treatment that's so terrible-different subject]
Upon diagnosis,my life process for my wife Toni and me was,share the shock,ask the questions,take action.To include,notifying family and friends,seeing specialists,making decisions on course of treatment etc.More importantly,seeing my mortality,and carrying 24/7 the weight of the diagnosis.As part of this life process,there are many "afraid"moments,[hardly shared],many minutes thinking of the dire future scenarios,the trusting of the "earth"specialists.I could go on but, I'm sure you get the point.I'm thinking that this life process is probably the most likely scenario for an Agnostic,an Atheist,or someone that is unsure of whether or not there is a Creator God and if there is,He has to be too busy to worry about me..I would ask you now to take a few minutes and ask yourself,have you ever had a situation in your life that has caused you to have a similar life process I just described?Now the God process,the joy of finding Him many years ago,and the peace of knowing He will NEVER leave me,ALWAYS love me,I am heaven bound!Thank you,Jesus!
.The process of God in our life
God ,through the Holy Spirit,came to me as a quiet voice at 1:30am the very first night of my diagnosis.I couldn't sleep,I was prowling around the house;He said"write a journal"I said "what?,I never have liked to write"He said "do it,I will guide you"Wow!as Pastor Goss has asked"Is it me?God?or the devil?"I prayed for the answer,the quiet voice insisted for several hours,I started a journal!!for a period of several days,always in the wee hours of the morning{the voice in my heart would wake me up,it is time to write,weird huh?]I wrote about,not only the cancer but,my life up to that point as follows; ;my team[with God in the lead],my fear[He took it away,using my sister Mary as His intermediary].I wrote about how to pray for healing[His truth from the Bible],about His glory,about my day of atonement[all the times I walked away from Him],how to enjoy each day[His perspective from the Bible],about being"born again"and my heart change,and finally,I choose God's House. Get behind me devil!
All of this writing was done prior to surgery.Several weeks went by and all I heard from the Holy Spirit was trust me.Then came the day when the Holy Spirit told me to start a "Blog"sharing my life's experiences.So here we are ;my desire to share ,your decision to read.In the end,like me you will have to decide what does my earthly/spiritual walk have to do with you?Can it change how you think about things?Can my weaknesses keep you from making the same mistakes?,and more importantly,which process will you choose?The life process or the God process? More importantly, will you find the "True God" before you take your last breath?I want you to know I got it!!Will you?If so,All glory to God!Until next time,with Christian love,Joe

The Focus Is Not What You Missed;It's What You Found

Greetings,
I was talking with my brother Ray last night,the conversation covered several subjects; from our health ,family updates,and generally the process of our lives on this earthly journey.I know from my perspective,and I'm sure Ray's ,the most important time was spent in the prayer we shared asking our Father God to guide and lead us on future decisions we will make,and more importantly,that we would be given the Spirit driven words to bring our unsaved loved ones to Jesus our Lord and Savior.
I was reflecting this morning of how much time my brother Ray and I have missed sharing our life's experiences because of our personality differences ,thought process differences[mostly leading to angry arguments]and vocational choice differences[management vs. union].I am sure we both would have preferred an "adult" conversation ,however,we could not stop ourselves from the big brother/little brother rivalry,me being the big brother.I must admit,however,that I carry the burden of knowing that part of my problem was my own disease of "self righteousness" and I'm always right attitude.
My change to the better ,having found God in my life,for the past 25 years was unseen by Ray because of what happened before the spiritual transition.As I was reflecting on this the Holy Spirit put on my heart not to FOCUS ON WHAT WAS MISSED,IT"S WHAT YOU FOUND".The healing process has been a gradual happening over time as we stayed away from any "heavy"subjects and just shared "light"conversation to include Rays' hunting and fishing adventures,my retirement activities,and family updates.In my mind,the epicenter of the transition came when Ray and I had a spiritual conversation highlighted by my leading him in the sinners prayer to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.My brother is a strong follower of the Roman Catholic Church,however,I was concerned that their teaching on being "Born Again" was less specific than what God required;it was a very emotional time for the both of us,I never felt closer to my brother !The crux,the point,the purpose of this letter is ;you can't go back and lament what was lost,but to enjoy the new relationship that was found!How many times have we "robbed"ourselves of the joy of a new ,improved,fulfilling relationship with someone we love by rehashing the old? God,in His infinite wisdom,said when we accept Him and ask for forgiveness of our sins,He not only will forgive us ,He will NEVER bring them up again" as far as the east is from the west". The bottom line is, if it's a good enough truth of our Heavenly Father,it should be good enough for us!Until next time,enjoy your new found relationships and don't waste time on what was wrong before you found the delight in this "new"love experience.God bless all of you on your journey towards Him,Joe

Where Did The Joy Come From?

Greetings,
I wonder how many times in our life I/We "shorted"ourselves on joy because we didn't take the action to accept it when offered!We need to set up the scenario for a "joy"experience;because we never know when it's going to be available.Examples of possible joy situations not experienced, for whatever reasons, are necessary to get us started on "Where Did The Joy Come From?".I will list a few;
.A social event with friends-not attended.
.A wedding,graduation,birthday etc.-not attended.
.Time spent with the children,just because.-not finding the time.
.Time spent with your spouse,just the 2 of you.-not doing it.
.Time spent with your Christian family[church]-not getting involved.
There are many instances in our life where the potential for joy is missed,because we made the decision to NOT be part of sharing our life with others!I know each of us has had the experience of saying "Wow!I'm glad I decided to attend that gathering,I had a great time."Joy came to us because we made the decision to take part!
I am in the midst of my "process of life" where my body is causing me to make decisions that have the potential to rob me of "joy"situations.I,along with many others who care for and love me continue to pray for receiving God's healing on my body.I am a blessed man!I have written in an earlier letter how our afflictions can become a blessing by allowing our faith in God to raise us up to see the big picture;our earthly mortality versus our eternal soul life with Him. The purpose of this letter is to share the joy that can come in the least likely places.
Toni and I had our first chemo treatment last Wednesday,an 8 hour event.There are 22 reclining chairs in the "treatment"room ,people come and go,all ages,some healthier than others,however,all with one thing in common;cancer.I am an observer by nature,and to pass time ,I observed personalities/attitudes of the patients,nurses,visitors,etc.A patient by the name of Bob was in the chair close to mine and I knew from the conversation with the nurse that this was his first treatment and he was nervous and somewhat fearful,in spite of his attempt at humor the nurse was very "standoffish" and "curt".At a point in time I started a conversation with Bob and offered him 1/2 of my sandwich[he was by himself and didn't bring anything to eat or drink,the treatment is long and certainly no picnic:)]The point is,because we started to laugh and "share",both of us experienced joy from each other.I found out later from the nurse,as she was changing my IV,that her attitude was negative for two reasons,2 of her favorite patients had died and she was "burnt out"from not having a day off.Once she unburdened herself to me,surprising me, when I asked her an innocent question "Are you OK?"her light of goodness came flowing from her and she became a joy to me and the other patients;she also shared that she was a "born again" Christian and this particular day was so unlike her.I am amazed that sometime in the most negative of circumstances,that joy can be found if we just reach out and look for it.
I am thinking now of the spiritual joy that God brings in to our heart when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior;when I am lower than low,when I've reached bottom,when I don't know where to turn,THERE HE IS,bringing me the greatest joy known to man!By His grace I am Healed!I know there isn't any greater joy than this truth from Him;NEVER to leave me!!I/We are His creation,I am sure HIS joy is great when We CHOOSE HIM!
Until next time,look for the joy possibilities in all your circumstances,after all,God IS in control,with Christian love,Joe

I Want To Be Just Like?

Greetings,
How many of us remember the commercial "I want to be just like Mike"?This commercial had to do with Michael Jordan,the basketball player,and because of his basketball skills we should desire to be just like him.
I've been refining my thought process through the years and have come to the conclusion that In my truly younger years ,even though I was not aware of it ,I wanted to be just like my dad,further more,my mother was the standard for what a woman should be.Let's see if I can "flesh out" why most of us end up with many of the positive/negative traits of our parents.I will start from our birth beginning;most of us have had a typical child hood;nurtured and raised by our birth mother and father.Our parents met most of our needs from the time we were born until the time we leave their home and "strike out" on our own,oops,that could be a Freudian slip!!I have concluded that our parents are the"adult" foundation we want to emulate as we grow into our own adult life.You might ask why is that?My opinion follows;my dad was the first adult male in my life;at some point in my cognitive brain activity,I thought he represented what a man was supposed to act like with his neighbors,relatives and friends,how a father treated and loved his children,how a husband loved and treated his wife.The same is true regards my mother,what a woman was supposed to be as a wife and a mother.I ask you to pause reading this letter now and concentrate on this last paragraph.Can you "see"the influence your parents have had on you, as an adult, because they were the first "grown ups" in your life?I wonder how much better a parent we would have been or can be, if we looked at ourselves through the eyes of our children!I am not writing a letter to cast aspersions on my parents, that all my flaws as an adult rests on their shoulders;what I AM saying is ;if we as adults would recognize more consistently that our children are watching and emulating what we do in the most formative time of their life perhaps we would change some of our actions and decisions in that light.
The writing of this letter started from the experience I have had coaching and refereeing basketball in our church's "Upward Basketball" program.This is a Christian program for boys and girls using basketball and cheer leading as a tool to bring children and family's' the word and love of God.The children are taught the basics of playing basketball,cheer leading skills and teamwork involved,also ,how to develop a "Christ Like" attitude.Passages from the Bible are learned with the goal of the child learning who God is and that Jesus died on the cross for all of us .The family of each child is asked to participate in all aspects of the program.What a blessing this program has been for me,and a further recognizing of the impact we adults can and do have on our children.To "bottom line"this letter 'Upward" has reminded me ,once again,that ALL of us need to be more "CHRIST LIKE" in our dealings with our fellow man,and particularly ,with our children and young adults in our life.Remember,they are watching us and looking to emulate!WHO DO YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO BE JUST LIKE?
Until next time,remember,God is with us always,are we emulating Jesus in our thoughts and actions?with Christian love,Joe