. . . the fruit of the Spirit is
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
and self-control.
There is no law (Jewish Law) against such things.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." 

This is the first commandment.

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

There is no other commandment greater than these.

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;

and to virtue knowledge;

and to knowledge temperance;

and to temperance patience;

and to patience godliness;

and to godliness brotherly kindness;

and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

living water

I am made in the image of God, not your image of God.

It is easy to believe in a God who is in control when everything is going well; not so easy to believe that God is in control when things are perhaps more difficult.

I grew up in a country where I got a theological education for free. I didn't have to leave seminary with $80,000.00 worth of debt.

I grew up in a country where I didn't have to worry about health care; everybody got healthcare free. There's a notion!

I grew up in a country where people found their way through and at least they were able to put dinner on the table.

God is in control.

I was faithful to that understanding of this God in control, but as I became more sophisticated, perhaps as I became more global, I understood that the God that seemed to fit my model of God is in control, perhaps isn't quite the God that other people experience elsewhere: this notiton of a God is in control!

And that's another cool thing our Senior Pastor told us.

PROGRAM LISTINGS & PROGRAM SCHEDULES

"There are nourishing relationships and there are toxic relationships. Nourishing relationships; they bring the best out of you; they inspire you! Toxic relationships, they drain you!" To begin the next chapter of life - aye, even the best chapter of life - a pivotal moment is available, it seems to me, suggesting an opportunity to take another step - a vital step - even if the step is a shuffle toward an ant. Consider its ways and be wise! This has the capacity to renew the mind. The light is on. Let's examine this in love.

Behold love's ensconced beauty - a lightness of being - Love always trusts. Trust by its very nature, essential to its very being, is an unwavering confidence in reliability. That is trust, valid to its core. M-hm. Love ALWAYS trusts.

Not to put a finer point on it, even a dove talking to a pigeon looking up at that would say, "Walla-walla-bing-bang - hooray!" Love trusts. Stand on my head. Lean to my side. Do the flip. Do the twist. Do the slide. Spin all around. Fall on my backside. True love remains always the same: trusting.

Love ALWAYS trusts.

Love's enemies frown at the irking simplicity of this life equation, I find. Adversaries fume and fuss that much more beholding God's creation basking in the wonder, the joy, the beauty of true love - this glittering facet of it, I find. And you who have been burned, you are probably wary of it. Not gonna change - not a ping - Love ALWAYS trusts.

Who-ah!

Always. Always. Always. Always. Always. Always. Always. Always. Whooow! I am flying with this! Do you see? Can you feel it, hear it, taste it? Touch it. Go ahead - touch it. Love ALWAYS trusts. Be still with it. Embrace it. Experience it. Who-ah! Breathe it in. Love, baby. Love! Love always trusts. It doesn't burn. No, it doesn't burn. Not where I am experiencing it. It creates an environment where freedom reigns and confidence thrives. Humans have strong wings, you know. This is where it unfolds. Love, baby. Love! Gets strong with wear, even stronger with use. Have you noticed this?

Love ALWAYS trusts.

At this sector of our grid, exploring the authentic nature of true love, emanates a peculiar light - Glorious. Awesome. Golden. Reflective - almost blinding, as if we are glaring at the encounter of a huge diamond pulsing from the sun prismatic waves of known and yet to be known values in all directions. We are in fact observing the heartbeat of true love - TRUST. At love's death, this light is out.

True love never dies. Love ALWAYS trusts. M-hm. Ride those waves, baby. Ride with me. Lovers heartbeats entertwined. Imagine the possibilities.

Trust is the 'adult' stuff each and every baby is designed with. Trust! Ever noticed? Enemies of transcendence, enemies of growth, enemies of magnificence, enemies of authenticity - adversaries - pinch and punch and pulverizie the bejesus out of this heartbeat - TRUST. Not for amateurs! Trust. Not for the faint of heart. Trust. Not for flakes, flukies, nor fleas. Trust. Who-ah! Love, baby. Love. Love ALWAYS trusts.

This ain't no mouth-full-of-spit kind of love. This 'thing' is huge, so humungous, they killed my Lord - Jesus - for being the very embodiment of it. Love! And is my Lord dead? Whooow!

Let me wax a little dramatic for an edu-entertainment on this matter.

Even this very moment they - minions of the enemy of our growth and transformation - are coming - dispatched - wound-up and brutally loaded - their crosshairs dead center at the heartbeat of true love - TRUST - committed to ensuring you and I will have - forthwith - a downturn change-of-mind about the efficacy and vitaltiy of this awesome thing: trust. And to remind you you've been burned! They are not kidding. They killed Jesus, you know! Is my Lord dead? Whooow!

Intermission! Breathe, baby. Breathe.

Let me take this moment to bring up to speed comers to this new season of our journey: we are on our way to the lean side of the mountain where Jesus is speaking. It is a wonderfully peculiar trip - strange in the sense that one is at best when prepared for the joyous rigors of this ride. But fear not, be encouraged. Preparing is sweet. We are exploring love. Ooh-oooh-wee-willy-wonka! And we are at the 13th sector of our love-grid. This we know for sure so far: Love is huge, the most powerful force in our universe available to each and every one of us.

We began this phase of our journey at sector one: Love Is Patient (click it to claim it). However, we first got ourselves dressed and ready for the segment series by Walking On Air, where we enjoyed a sweet brush with David. Yes, that David. You are welcome to visit him too; one CLICK here and you'll be there. Be brave; courage is an enhancing attribute of a rewarding life. I am encouraging you and yours to take the journey step by step all the way through. No rush! But don't take too long. Life is too beautiful to just sit around scratching one's head. Don't you think? However, just in case you can't resist that itch, here are a few remedies for dandruff and lice (click-click), and brain freeze too. You will find, toward the tail of each love episode, just before the BIG VIDEO, a NEXT button; one click and you are onto its succeeding episode.

We good?

Love one another.

We are RENEWING OUR MINDS in the process. It is a worthwhile transformation. It is a necessary transformation. It is essential to the experience of living the 'genius' life to which each of us was created and to which each of us is being called.

With this brilliance - refined, reframed, revitalized - we are heading up to the blood-stained top of Golgotha to examine what really and trully happened there!

We already have a sense that TRUST played a huge role in what unfolded there. With this reawakening we will travel by way of land and sea, beyond resurrection morning, across a desert and through the valley arriving at the lean side of the mount to hear and recieve (personally from Jesus, the Christ) proven strategies for creating and living the connected life. God is awesome.

Here we are, at the heartbeat of love - Trust! Love ALWAYS trusts. Take it in. (Share it!) This love engenders confidence. It promotes freedom. It creates space. We're exchanging and sharing ideas on how we are growing and progressing in such spaces.

Yes, Love ALWAYS trusts. For this to be true, shouldn't it be capable of proving itself reliably so in every capacity of love - in every realm through all of love's relatable dimensions (height, depth and breadth; vetical, horizontal and spherical)? We know that it does, but how can any person be sure? OUR ANSWER: through the valid experiment of verifiable experience!

Your turn. Here is an experiment.

Love ALWAYS trusts. Can God's Love FOR you - you, specifically, no if, no and, no but - ALWAYS be trusted? ALWAYS and in All Ways? Prove it.

Love ALWAYS trusts. Can Your Love FOR you - you, specifically, no if, no and, no but - ALWAYS be trusted? ALWAYS and in All Ways? Prove it.

Ready to test your love for neighbor? Hahahahaha! Now we're talking. Love ALWAYS trusts, babt. This is stepping into 'genius' mode. BRAVE IT.

(Them strategies! Them strategies! Oh, how we need them strategies. Excuses not allowed!) Discuss.

Being fully functional and wholly human!

Love ALWAYS trusts.

"Love is an active, accountable, responsible 'being' that makes decisions reflective of its authentic self."

And yet love does not burn us!

When we feel unloved we are left to face unfavorable consequences. We limit our choices. Regardless of its origin - lack of self love, lack of divine love, lack of storge, phila, eros or agape - this bracing reality clenches our throats. Our space narrows. Our freedom is cut. Our lack grows. Our decisions are labored. Our trust dwindles. Unseemly actors favor us, encroach us, attract us. They have us right where they want us. Owned! Perfectly set for a lift and a drop - back cracked. Blamed. Guilted. Shamed. Powerless!

This does not have to be so. Not at all!

In fact, it is a delusion with very real outcomes. It is a pervasive invasive reality. A life of lack! Unloved! Untrusting. Distrustful. Disillusioned. Decieved. No means. No methods. Tongue dry. Throat parched. Encroaching misery. It is a delusion with very real consequences. False promises! Vinegar for water. A blade for a meal. Mockery.

Not even the mighty are immune! A transformation is required. And It is available. And it is free. For us it is. Already paid for. Principle paid. Fines paid. Interest paid. Bequeathed to the beloved. Isn't that you? Perhaps, this transformation is being blocked by the enemy. Hidden behind smoke and mirrors. Nevertheless, available by way of courage employed pressed to the claim, for it belongs to you, and it belongs to me. This transformation is of no value to the enemy - they! They are loveless too! But pretentious! Invested in expanding their company. Misery. They have a weird kind of power. Real smoke. Real mirrors. It is an effective delusion, nonetheless. Do you know who they are, i.e., this enemy?

No? Oh, dear me; say yes!

They are many (with distributed powers) and yet they are but one!

Brace yourself! Get ready to confront your chief enemy - that powerhouse of obstruction, a daylight robber, a jailor, a deciever, a confounding thief.

The most powerful enemy of transformation and growth, of whole-heartedness, of salvation and healing, of lasting peace and progress, your greatest and most insidious enemy, is the mind - one stuck on rewind - one replaying old tapes of worthlessness; one selfishly wallowing in a pool of self-pity; one so entangled with shreds of synthetic beliefs, what God calls good it despises as unlovable and unlovely; to it love is sinful, joy is suspect, gentleness is weakness, patience is timidity, kindness encourages laziness, goodness is insufferable, and self-control is cowardice. Yes, the mind! Your greatest enemy.

Stop the tape!

Toss it out.

We need a NEW MIND; one firmly entrenched as an advocate not an adversary. One restored with values and beliefs authentic to the wonder God created and redeemed and loves. Period! Not one diluted by devilish trickery to keep you on your knees and your birthright in the devil's treasury.

Here is one 'genius' way to get the New Mind started: lit in love and ticking with trust - the heart beat of love. Isn't this an awesome way for a renewed mind to get off the ground soaring, primed with a phenomenal experience: a Love that ALWAYS Trusts? I think so.

Behold the Beauty - Love - one that always trusts. Whooow! Now, that is huge. What I have found is this: that liberation - the freedom to pursue being our best selves, the joy of fostering neighborliness, and the fruitful exercise of our creativity - is not in denying the reality of pervasive elements engendering distrust, and is not in the denial of wanton deception, rather, in the face of an intelligent awareness of these realities, it is having the courage and the will to allow ourselves to be consistently drawn into trusting relationships and into building trustworthy partnerships, recognizing in that process the unfailing trust of the divine relationship we embrace and enjoy, as well as, the probability of our own failings during our practice of being our best selves in which we experience the enrichment of the fruit of the spirit .

How would you renew the mind were you to begin today? Do you believe love ALWAYS trusts? What's your wholehearted experience?

(Share!)

Love, baby. Love.

"Knowledge that takes you not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance." Elif Shafak.

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Something To Consider

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You are

What POWER!