Tag: christianity

Throwing the First Stone

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

I don’t think I have ever lived through a time like now when people are so quick to judge and throw stones at others, sometimes for what they said 40 years ago. Get real!!! News flash: I’ll say it right here and now that I have said stupid things, done stupid things in the past. I’ve made many, many, many (did I say “many” enough to make a point) dumb things in the past. But I have tried to grow and learn from my mistakes. But I still make some today.

I’m not perfect. And neither are you. And neither are the politicians and self-righteous pundits flooding our cable news airwaves. We are all born in the image and likeness of God. We are children of God. But imperfect children trying (hopefully) to move towards Godly perfection. In fact, that’s what I think our earthly stay is all about. Learning and growing. Maybe not to perfection but towards it.

When I go to cast that first stone my visual is Jesus bending over and writing in the dirt and challenging anyone without sin to cast the first stone at the woman caught being unfaithful. Says it all because I am never without sin. Although there are some who very obviously think they are perfect—without sin.

Jesus is writing up on the clouds challenging those of us without sin to throw that first stone.

Have a GREAT week!!!

Filling the Emptiness

I heard a comment that we are all born with emptiness and I think that’s so true. That’s why especially in these “COVID” times so many are searching to fill the emptiness but so many are failing. That’s because they are looking in all the wrong places—drugs, alcohol, sex, food, gambling, etc. All these vices and more seem fulfilling but they leave you empty. There is only one way to fill the emptiness. God. Father, Son, and Spirit.

I know that this is preaching and sounds like religious mumbo-jumbo. But it’s life. Simple life with a simple answer to fill what we all have as an inherent emptiness. God. Father, Son, and Spirit.

More people are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Gambling is as close as your iPhone. You can bet on anything these days. Virtual sex is also as close as your iPhone. And we are inundated with everything food. I could go on and on. Lots of all the wrong things, available more so than ever before. And in all this God gets pushed back and back. It’s no wonder our world is increasingly screwed up. Like the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years—to simply go less than a dozen miles—we are lost. Because we have lost God in our lives.

There is only one way to fill the emptiness we all are born with, whether we realize it or not. God. Father, Son, and Spirit. God is a meaningful fill that satisfies and is not fleeting. In fact, I think understanding the emptiness of life and filling it with God is what this life on earth is all about. It’s the key to an eternity of never-ending bliss.

Understand the emptiness. Open up to it. Then fill it with God. Father, Son, and Spirit.

Have an AMAZING fulfilled week ahead!

What is The Real Secrets to Life About?

I started this blog close to 10 years ago because I found what are to me The Real Secrets to Life and how to live your life by them. This site is about simplifying your life and changing it for the better forever. It is about unlocking a new life of lasting happiness, peace, and fulfillment that no person or event in your life can ever take away from you.

The messages are very simple but powerful and life changing. I am not trying to impress anyone by using big words or conveying complicated thoughts. We live in a very complicated world that grows more so by the day. That is part of the problem. We need to uncomplicate the complicated. We need to simplify our lives. God does not mean life to be so difficult. We make it difficult by complicating it. God wants us to be happy, at peace, and fulfilled. We get in our own way.

As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

In living out our hectic lives today we have a tendency to overlook the obvious. We make things more complicated than they are or should be. Moreover, we have experts for every little facet of life. The experts may mean well but I think that they just help us complicate things so much so that the obvious becomes less obvious. We have a tendency to turn to experts for answers rather than looking to ourselves and to God. God, the only true expert on life, is always there ready to help us uncomplicate and simplify our lives.

I want to make you think and reflect about the real road to true, lasting happiness, peace, and fulfillment. That road leads to God. Whatever challenges you face on your life journey you can conquer. That’s because God is in you and nothing is impossible for God. You should greet every day with enthusiasm, eager to continue your journey. Once you open your life to God you want to get closer to him every day. Regardless of your circumstances, you can forge ahead if you have a clearer vision of where you are headed.

God doesn’t put any obstacles in our way—he clears them. We just have to trust him like any great football running back that knows he has to trust and follow his blockers. Follow God. He will help you get by any obstacles in your life.

There is a new you in you. Trust me. No, trust God.

I always try to challenge you to think and reflect. This stimulates thoughts that will eventually lead to answers but only if you go with the flow. Go ahead and disagree with me. However, don’t just throw out what I say without giving it an honest try. Keep a positive outlook. Don’t let negative thinking and doubt cripple you by not trying this. Again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Sometimes, people don’t like the truth. They don’t like simplicity. They hide in complexity. Complexity becomes their safe place but a false safe place—a desert—where they aimlessly wander keeping them from finding the Promised Land in their lives. Don’t be one of those people. Life is meant to be simple. Find your own Promised Land of happiness, peace, and fulfillment.

And have a GREAT week!

The Chosen

If you haven’t watched The Chosen, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s the story of Jesus’s brief three year ministry as seen through His disciples—the chosen. It balances sticking to the Bible and seeing the disciples as human beings, infighting, jockeying for position, flawed as we humans are flawed. And with Jesus we see the same type of balance—He’s a guy you would like to hang out with while at the same time He is clearly God.

I wish that an audience beyond Christians would watch The Chosen. Especially my Jewish friends would see that Jesus and His disciples were clearly Jewish, in all respects. In fact, in a wake up call to many (most?), Jesus was as Jewish as Jewish gets. He certainly wasn’t Christian. When we follow Jesus Christ, we are Christians. But we are clearly following a Jew. The Chosen brings the Jewishness home.

I hope The Chosen runs through a scheduled seven seasons. That’s all driven by people like me—and hopefully you—paying it forward for others to see.

Watch and enjoy!!!

Listen. He’s Talking to You. Yes, You!

My first Secret to Life is simple: LISTEN. LISTEN to God because He is talking to you. Yes, to some this sounds crazy or the delusions of a religious fanatic. I can assure you I am neither. Simply, I have found that if you stop and LISTEN for/to God He is “speaking” to you. But you have to stop and really LISTEN.

Several things to understand.

First, you can’t ever possibly hear God if you don’t stop and really LISTEN for/to Him. Our lives are so busy and are a cacophony of sounds and diversions. We don’t stop for anything. We don’t have quiet time. We don’t think that God is ever talking to us. We don’t. We don’t. We simply don’t. So, how can we ever expect to hear from God?

Second, “hearing” from God is not waiting from some booming voice on high. It’s not necessarily in the ears. It’s in the heart. In the mind. In the soul. Yes, I hear God talking to me. But it’s an inner “talk.” And I only hear God when I stop and really LISTEN. Every once in a while God needs to give me a whack on the side of the head to get my attention. But I only “hear” from God when I stop and LISTEN.

Finally, If God is “talking” to me I can assure you He is talking to you. There is nothing special about me other than the fact that I am simply another child of God. We all are.

Stop your busy world. Find a quiet time and place to LISTEN for/to God. You will “hear” Him. But you have to really LISTEN. Really LISTEN.

There is a reason why LISTEN is the first Secret to Life.

LISTEN! And open up a whole new world of possibilities! You are special, unique, and have your own purpose in life.

What Would Jesus Do?

I’m dating myself but I remember those WWJD wrist bands that were all the rage 20 years ago or so. I don’t think that today you will find many people—any people—wearing wrist bands touting What Would Jesus Do?. But I’ve found myself thinking about What Would Jesus Do? and trying to answer that question relative to several current events.

Would Jesus storm the U.S. Capitol or be part of a mob looting stores in U.S. cities? The answer is clear. No. Jesus would not be involved with either the “right” or the “left” destroying property or human lives. The most Jesus did in a fit of anger was to overturn the tables of the money changers outside the temple. Nothing was destroyed. Jesus simply made a statement.

Would Jesus be some pundit on TV pulling people right or left, just for the sake of making money? Again, the answer is a clear no. Although Jesus said he came to divide, that division was actually about uniting. Jesus drew people to himself so that He could be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins—past, present, and future.

Would Jesus live His life judging others? No again. Jesus clearly told us to first fix ourselves before we try to tell others what they are doing wrong. Jesus’ clear message was that we shouldn’t be judges.

I could go on and on but will stop here. It’s just so cleansing to look at your life and those around you and ask What Would Jesus Do?. I’m not talking about judging others. I’m simply asking the question of What Would Jesus Do? You don’t need a trendy wrist band that most wouldn’t be caught dead wearing today. I’m simply talking about asking what Jesus would do in all types of situations.

Have a GREAT week ahead. And ask yourself What Would Jesus Do?.

Think There is No Devil?

One of the Secrets to Life is realizing the devil (Satan., Lucifer, etc. etc.) is real. It is hard at work looking for souls and fighting the devil is a must. This isn’t any cute Trick or Treat horned little red devil; it’s the real personification of evil. But the devil doesn’t want to be seen as real. It works best behind the scenes. And one very scary scene is this article. In fact it’s beyond amusing. It’s very scary and a sign of the times.

“Rapper Lil Nas X sparked intense debate online over Palm Sunday weekend with the release of a controversial pair of “Satan Shoes,” which feature a bronze pentagram charm, an inverted cross — and actual human blood.”

I don’t know what else to say. The devil is at work and smiling.

Fight!!!

Divided We Are Falling: From Judges to Scotland

The United States is falling, I hate to say. Falling and failing. Why? First, we are pushing God out of our lives. And pushing hard. We just don’t want to separate church (God) from state (our lives), we simply want to leave God far behind. We have other gods to worship (greed and ego). Second, we don’t see the commonality in us. We see black, yellow, red, left, right, Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc, etc, etc. God sees us as all the same, individually and equally. We see each other as different. Love should abound but hate—and I mean HATE—rules.

We should be taking lessons from the past, starting with the Bible, but we know better. I know this sounds bleak (hint: Because it is VERY bleak!!!) but the reason I’m writing and doing my part is because change can happen, but it happens one person at a time. And change needs to happen! And fast!

Just last week I wrote about the lessons from the exodus of the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years for a journey that should have taken 12 days at the most. Wandering, leaving God in the desert dust, complaining, and worshipping false gods along the way. Bad things happened. The Israelites were lost. No one was happy. Well, fast forward to the period when the Israelites had judges—rulers who were not really kings but rulers. Read the book of Judges in the Bible to see how well that period went. Once again, the judges did some pretty bad things and the people were once again lost. Bad things happened. God didn’t forget the Israelites; they forgot Him.

Really fast forward to Scotland, which has this history of warring and divided clans. There were periods (William Wallace, etc) when Scotland kind of, sort of united but the constant friction from the clans didn’t keep Scotland united against England over time. There’s a reason the saying goes, United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” Or as Jesus said, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)

I really don’t know if we will learn. Our country is more fundamentally divided that any time in modern-day history than I can remember. But as I wrote last week, and write here again today, the future lies in God—or not. United and with God we stand. Separate from Him we are divided and will fall.

What am I doing? Keeping God in my life. Trying to be a uniter, rather than a divider. Smiling. Reaching out. Helping. Trying. Following the Secrets to Life.

Doing my part. Please do yours!

It’s All About God (Repeat: It’s All About God)

Take a look around this country and the world. Storming the U.S. Capitol. Asian hate. Rioting and looting Portland. Crazy conspiracy theories. Black Lives Matter. Blue Lives Matter. Shootings. Russian tampering in U.S. elections. Congressional partisanship like never before. North Korea. China. Myanmar. Miami beach spring break. Masks. No masks. Everything COVID-19. And on, and on, and on. Where is God in this? MIA. Why? Because we don’t want God in our lives. Pure and simple.

Regardless of COVID-19 resulting in more people turning to God, the world is absolutely moving toward secularization, which means away from God. I sound like a broken record —even to myself—but look no further than the exodus story in the Bible to see how this ends. Repeatedly, the Israelites turned away from God in their 40 years of aimlessly wandering in the desert. And bad things happened all along the way. There is a reason this story is in the Bible. Because it is now our story. The people of this world, starting with the United States, are aimlessly wandering in this desert of a world, which ironically is becoming more of a desert. And as we turn further away from God bad things happen.

No, I don’t think that COVID-19 was thrust upon us by God as punishment for turning away from Him. COVID-19 is just another one of the millions of viruses on this planet, but one we let get ignited because we simply don’t have out act together. Bad things happen because we let them happen as we increasingly don’t look to God for answers.

We should be a people with a vision of where we are going; namely our own Promised Land. We should be looking to lift each other up, to not let anyone go hungry or without. We should be good stewards of this earth and looking out to the stars. We should be looking to God for direction and answers, not trying to cut Him out of our lives.

I’m not some doom and gloom guy. I’m someone who constantly looks at the good and believes in the best. But as we turn our backs on God more bad “stuff” will happen. It’s that simple. Like the Israelites in the desert we will moan and groan and be unhappy. And bad things will happen. It’s as clear as day.

I for one will do everything I can to make this world a better place. Change happens one person at a time. I’m certainly no saint. In fact, because I think I know the answers, but screw up all the time, I may be the world’s greatest sinner. But I try. And I constantly turn back to God for direction and answers, God. The only answer in life.

It’s simply all about God!!!

I hope you have an AMAZING week ahead. Look for God in your life. He will make all the difference in your life!

Take Him Down!

That’s one of my mantras for 2021. Take Him (Jesus) down from the cross. What??? Jesus was taken down over 2,000 years ago. Is this more “religious” mumbo-jumbo? No, it’s about life and changing mine for the better. Here’s my thinking.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins—yours, mine, and every living being past present, and future. My sins were up there on the cross. In fact, effectively my sins hammered in those nails at the hands of the Romans. I had a hand in putting Jesus up there. It’s my responsibility to take Him down.

OK. Let’s get practical. How do I take Jesus down from the cross? Simply by doing what He showed all of us to do—love. Every day, every step, should be a walk in love. Sure, I veer off the love path all the time. I get inpatient with people. I get mad. I look down. But I try to look back on every day and be honest when and where I messed up. I then repent. And try not to mess up the next day. I envision Jesus hanging on the cross and me taking Him down. It’s really that simple. Try, review, and repent. Constantly try to do better, be better.

Yes, this all sounds simple. But then again for the 1,000th-plus time, God means life to be simple. We are the ones who complicate it so very much.

Take Him down! Easy enough to think about, harder to execute. I know. Trust me. But we all get points for doing our best. That’s what God expects. Try.

Have a TERRIFIC weekend ahead!!!

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