markdohle

I would imagine that on some world the same question could be asked with the same responses. God is Infinite intelligence, infinite creativity,and infinite love.......perhaps we should develop the ability to be surprised. Peace Mark

Sometimes those are the best, no baggage to interfere with the message. Peace mark

I will have to look up that song. Thanks for sharing. Peace Mark

I am glad you are starting to feel better. Yes the saying .."this too shall pass" is consoling. Peace mark

Being thankful for the dark times (A thanksgiving retreat) We had a retreat on thankfulness this Mon-Wed of this week. This time of the year the number is usually small; we had five participants. Usually we have larger groups. I do like the smaller ones however. When I started off the discussion, I reminded the group that when thinking about ones life and being thankful, we are also led to those times when we struggled and perhaps failed in a major way and in the end we find ourselves being thankful for everything in our lives. That is one of the great gifts in aging, this ability to look back and see how one was lead even when not in conscious relationship with God. We had some powerful sharing, each had quite a bit of trauma from their past. Yet they have discovered that even when things were the darkest, in looking back they can see how the Lord worked in their lives. There was sexual abuse, physical trauma, serious life threatening addictions, yet each as they relating their experience ended up being thankful for what they had to go through to get to were they were at. What they went through was not willed by God, yet God who meets us wherever we are can bring healing and good out of any situation. In judging we deny others to walk the path they need to travel in order to find the Lord. To share ones faith in a respectful manner and to let it go, is a great act of faith in the workings of the Holy Spirit, to water that seed and bring it to new life at the right time. I believe that we should carry in our hearts all those we meet, to pray for them always, and trust in the Lords mercy, the same mercy he has shown all of us. One woman shared how one night she walked out to look at the moon. She had a drink in one had and a smoke in the other. Suddenly she felt a hand on her forehead and a voice telling her to stop doing this to herself. She was healed and is now a deeply devout Christian woman. Yes the free gift of grace, she had like St. Paul, a Damascus moment. In the Letter of 1st Peter, he talks about Christians being a priestly people and so we are. We are called to pray and lift up all and to in a special way to never forgot those we have spoken to or met, we are all used by the Lord in ways that in the future we will be amazed and thankful. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.--1 Peter 2:9

Yes I agree. Peace Mark

Well said, you have a way with words. Peace mark

Well, I won't hold that against you. peace Mark

LOL, I so love Coca Cola, nice childhood memories. We only had coke on very special occasions. Peace Mark

If you pray the Lord will answer, just God's timing is not ours, also Jesus said some are called late in life, yet they receive the same reward. Suffering and pain have a way of bringing us back to the Lord and from those I have spoken to who have this 'issue' in their lives, they do suffer greatly. Peace Mark

Yet how we treat them is important I believe. Sexual failure and sin is not the only sin, there are worse I believe. I have no idea what it is like to be part of that group, but for many it must be horrible, lonely isolating. If we plant seeds of truth that are said with love and respect they will grow I believe into good fruit. If we are hateful or contemptuous towards them the seeds will bring forth the fruit of anger, bitterness and hatred for the name of Jesus and perhaps for all Christians in general.

To understand ones own inner poverty will have a deep affect in how we relate to others. To know ones own need for grace and to honestly own up to how failures occur leads to compassion for the weaknesses of others and yes sins. The poor in Spirit or just the poor seem to hold a special place in the Mind and Heart of Jesus. In the Last Judgement scene it bears this out....the importance of seeing 'Him" in the faces of those outside, poor and imprisoned. It is simple, but it takes a lifetime to grow into its full realization I believe, for we grow and mature in our walk with the Lord. Peace Mark

Thank you for you sane and well balanced approach. When politics and religion wed you have the anti Christ. Peace Mark

Yes, but it does not mean it was the 'Christ-like" thing to say. He had a temper ;-). Peace Mark

I do understand where you are coming from. However if truth be told Christians can be just a vicious with those who disagree with them, especially if they are in a majority position. If we believe we are 'right' then there is little room for self evaluation. That said, the liberal agenda can be scary since it seems to not think about future consequences of the choices made on a cultural level. We are bearing the fruit now of some of those choices.

Humility is needed, I do believe that life supplies that aplenty, the Lord uses all things to prune us so that we continue to bear good fruit. peace mark

I don't like the far right nor the far left, both are anti-christian I believe. in any case one thing that needs to be understood is that in the near future, what we consider American culture will still be here, but perhaps a larger minority. This also goes for the acceptance of other religions. In Atlanta we have Hindu Temples and Mosques and with freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion we will have to adapt to that as well. History moves forward, can't go back, nor should we. If we want to share our faith and have others listen to us, then we mush allow them to share their faith with us as well. If we are open to them, they may be more open to here the good news of Jesus Christ. In any case, I do not consider other religions demonic but filled with many who seek God and when talking with them I can see that. Open hearten people, who love others and treat those around them with love and concern.......as Jesus said "those who are not against us are for us". Peace Mark

Nations rise and fall, our days as a superpower may be over. I do believe that as long as our capitalistic system is based on pure greed with no thought of consequences, then we will continue to decline. Hopefully I am wrong, but we can't go back and the days when European based population was the norm will soon be past. So if we are to become great again we have to learn to embrace change, radical change in how our culture looks. Ask me in 50 years, I will be 118 and may gladly say I was wrong.

LOL wise and with humor....politicians lie, will say all kinds of things to get in. People said the Trump was an outsider, never believed that at all. Yet there is still hope and he is better than Hilary, how much, well I will get some popcorn and join you....want a coke? Peace Mark

We all kind of do that I believe. Prayer can lead us to do it less. Peace Mark

Well said. Politics brings out the worse in everyone who are on opposing sides. Man Christians are liberal because of their deeply felt calling to deal with the poor and those disenfranchised. I am not a liberal, yet when it comes to health care I am. Those who label themselves conservatives can be just as mean spirited as those on the left. Many blacks who are deeply christian are democrats, they are hardly reprobates. When you go too far right or left and go around far enough you meet each other, because fanatics are all alike. I do believe that when Hilary came out in favor of on demand partial birth abortion she lost a lot of votes on the left......no way I could vote for someone who would promote infanticide, which is what PBO is. peace mark

When we trust someone it is actually a gift we bestow, when it is broken, especially in a manner that is grievous, then there is no more trust. It is hard to regain. Sometimes trust can be recovered, though I believe that is seldom done if the betrayal is truly malicious. Of course if the person knows the depth of his betrayal and his sorrow is deep enough it could lead to something deeper, but again, I believe that is rare. Peace mark

Yes thank you Marilyn, every time I say the Our Father I think of the day when "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven", is said by me. As well as when we pray as a community. Peace Mark

Thank you my friend. When I write I am really dealing with my own struggles. I have enough to not worry about others too much, except to slowly allow God's grace to heal me deeper and in that it makes me more understanding of others. I do believe that the mystery of God's love shown to each of us is still not understood, for Infinite Love is outside human experience. When I ponder the story of the "Prodigal Son" I get frustrated because the love the 'Father' portrayed is so outside human experience, it is of a deeper nature and I can't grasp it except to the level that I am able. Yet I still struggle, perhaps that is needed so that can again choose to follow the path that I believe we are called to; "To Love God with out whole souls and our neighbor as ourselves". For me the last part is the hardest, yet as I age and healing is deeper and my nakedness before God is made manifest to me, so does my trust and my fear drops away. Peace Mark

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15) We live in a world that is not for those who fear pain and suffering. Though many of us do in fact run from this reality; it will come to us all. It is part of every stage of life, though I believe that the very young and the very old suffer much from powerlessness and being at the mercy of others. Each year I experience this growing in myself. Health issues, not being able to do the jobs that when young were easy, are now a challenge and may even be dangerous. So I have to step back and let younger and stronger men do what needs to be done. Like fixing a flat tire, I can’t do that anymore. So I have to learn to let go, I guess this is suffering, but the intensity of it depends on how hard I fight it. From working in the Infirmary here in the community I saw that first hand. Now as I age I am slowly starting to experience what so many of my charges went through….most gracefully, a few not so much. I don’t mind really, since it is just as much a part of life, as growing in strength and ability to ‘do’, is part of being young. Today the ‘unborn’ have no right to life and many believe that the mother has the choice to cut short the life in her womb; in fact it is of course legal to do so. In the future I believe our descendants will look back in horror on how we treated the life in the womb as well as our elderly Of course the real shame will be in how we allow greed to take over one’s reason for living and how that shaped our values and life’s choices as well as cultural ones. Another scandal for those in the future will be the crisis in the family, where so many men seem to think that sex is a simple sport, fun, with no consequences or sense of responsibility. Women are left alone, and many are very young and do not have the means to support their child. Then families may turn on their ‘disgraced’ daughter and force her to get an abortion. Many such parents are Christians who are afraid of the scorn they will be visited on them from their church. So in some instances, Christian’s may be part of the fuel that keeps abortion going. Of course, I may be naive in believing that there will be such a culture, where life is respected to the extent that all will be treated with the dignity that they deserve as human beings no matter their stage of life. It has never happened in the past, so why would it happen in the future. When there is tragedy, and abortion is a true tragedy, the reasons for the abortion can have many influences that lead to that choice. A law will not stop abortion; it is a symptom of something much deeper and destructive. A law will only create a whole new class of criminals….is that really a solution? I think about prohibition, the law only made it more lucrative for the criminals. In the very young and the very old we do see the face of Christ Jesus, who became flesh and took upon himself our death and suffering and in doing that has allowed the gates of mercy to open on all. Yet if Christians don’t show mercy and love, how can change happen? I doubt we can point to any one source for our problems today, but I believe we all play a role in it. How you may ask. By not living out what we say we believe. If we are pro-life, do we show that in how we treat others? Many do, others try and fail, yet get up and continue, and then apathy is also very strong. To pray, love, help and speak truth in a manner that will not make things worse is what we are called to do. We do not see into the hearts of anyone. In fact, I can barely understand my own heart. I am not better than anyone, for I do not know how I would react under certain circumstance. However while there is still today, we can all begin again. A new beginning because of mercy and that mercy is passed on to others. When we understand the Love that Christ Jesus has for us and the mercy we have received, how can we not pass it on to others. For mercy is freely given for those who ask, so just as we received freely, so we must pass it on, for to harden ones heart is easy, to keep a fleshy human heart touched deeply by Christ Jesus is a death to old ways of being and not easy at all, but is a choice that comes from deep within, its roots watered by the Blood of Christ and the Fire of the Holy Spirit.