Hey, thanks again for checking in. There is reality that runs along side of a casted vision. I have often been asked the purpose or point of this blog. It may not appear so, but I did extensive research on creating a blog and building a network focused on acquiring and maintaining readership. I was hoping to do something different , something a little unusual, and maybe a little thought provoking, beyond, just writing about cooking, gardening, or something about auto repair. In fact, on many fronts, I’ve done the complete opposite of things that would somehow increase the odds of some kind of success rate, and the many different indicators as to what that is, again success can look differently depending on your goals and objectives. I don’t have a set schedule or approach as to how it all comes together each week. Honestly I can tell you that often it’s a God inspired thing, because I can see things going in a certain direction when I sit down to write, and then God moves it into a completely different direction. Sometimes it’s a battle between what I wish to share, and what God actually allows me to publish. I think that sometimes in my attempt to appeal to a broader audience, I get just a little to much in one camp over the other. I know that I’m a moody writer and sometimes ,I’m drawn away by emotions. That in itself is a two edged sword and it can be either good or bad depending on your perspective. The increased emotional response is something that has come along with age, and I can honestly tell you that I’m not always crazy about that .I have always tried to be honest and genuine, and present a perspective that is uniquely me. This is not “Fox News” or ” CNN”, so there are no claims about fair and balanced ☺️☺️. I sometimes will do research about something, but more so my opinion based on life experiences, other people’s stories told in disguised, or observations on different nouns ,be it a person , places or things. There are times when I sit down and the words just pour out of me. It can be like an endless flood ,or me just being washed away by a waterfall. At other times, I will have something pop in my head and I will write a little here and there, because every time I go back to a post, I read it from the beginning as to get a running start at it, or to reacquaint myself with what I had already written. This is slightly more difficult, than it sounds, because each time I read it , I’m making revisions and proof reading at the same time. There are times, when I’m desperately and frantically just trying to get all of the ideas or the main points down before they leak away from my brain. Some topics are driven by passion either for something ,or a firm against, as to what the hell were they thinking?. ☺️☺️ The post sometimes have an odd take on my journey and are not quite what they may appear on the surface, such as the ones titled ” First Responders ” and ” Pyle, USMC”. The truth of the matter is that ,the entire blog has been redefined and has had a metamorphosis of sorts. In the beginning the blog was birth out of a past relationship, which has been a tool in the hands of God to connect with other people at similar intersections of life, thus the name, “Not The Only One “. I have talked a little bit about the process, but let’s get to the meat and potatoes of it all. In the grand scheme of things, this blog is about the human condition. We are all broken people on some level. We have all been hurt or some how damaged by others, and whether you wish to admit it or not, you have done the same to someone who is or has passed through your life. It may be a romantic relationship, but don’t discount the trauma we have sometimes left our finger prints on with our kids. It could be flowing in the other direction and you have said or done mean and harmful things to your parents. I’m often amazed by some of the dysfunction that takes place in the work environment. I will just go a head and volunteer to be a punching bag here , with the following comment, but why does there have to be so much drama, when you get a bunch of women together in an office or some other work setting.? I could expand on that, but I’m not going to. ☺️☺️Back to the human condition, beyond being broken, we have some secret shame , regrets, and uncertainty about the world at large . We compare ourselves to other individuals, as in a plus, as that we are somehow better than they are , or we secretly resent them, by feeling that they are somehow a head of us , and we need to work harder to measure up. We often worry or fret over things that we try to exercise control over, and as I have often said before , that is an illusion. Depending on where you land on the continuum, your worry process can be anything from hoping for a healthy baby to be born to concerns and fears over retirement, and yes, I get that many other things come into play between those two points in life . There is something known as an “Unfinished Symphony”, and that refers to the day that we die. We are all making plans for vacations, birthday parties, a business venture, and whatever else we deem as some sort of a priority, yet none of us know the day that the symphony ends. We are all the same, and yet very different. We all breathe air, , we all bleed if we are cut, yet we all have the ability to think and feel very differently about our journeys. We all want to be distinct in some fashion as individuals, and we sometimes go out of our way to let that be known. Whether it’s dying our hair some out landish color or aligning ourselves with one of the many hyphenated people groups, we want to be seen as different as in our sometimes search for significance. All through out many of the post, I have self identified as being a believer in God. Most people have no problem with that , because God can be many things to many different people. I could be a tree hugger, and that could be my god, however when it gets to be about Jesus Christ, then the pushback is ON! . Well He is my God, I believe Him to be the one and only. Ok, where is this going?, again I’m so glad that you asked ☺️☺️. I have a personal relationship with God and if you do not have one with Him , then the door is wide open for that to happen. The main objective of this blog is to be welcomed into my dysfunction. I often hear people say or think that they have to somehow clean up their acts or get their crap together before making a move in God’s direction. I have my share of faults, flaws, short comings, or however you wish to describe them. I am perfectly imperfect, and God knows that , and He is OK with that, and He loves me in spite of that. He is the one who makes lasting changes in people’s hearts and lives and in our stories. He has always been about come as you are. We have a tendency to dress up the outside. We gussy up the outside, the parts that other people see and look at and judge us by, this is what I call the heart of the masquerade. God looks at the inside, He knows every heart, He knows of its potential and He also knows about every dark place as well. While you may not confess it or own it, but we all have dark places. What I have attempted to do here is to invite you in to my world with all of my brokenness. I have allowed you guys to peer into my relationships with my kids, my siblings, work associates, my health issues, romantic involvements, ex wives, as in more than one ☺️☺️but most importantly is my walk with God. I will tell you that each and everyday I have my struggles with God calling me into a deeper and closer walk with Himself. God is not a person with whom you can have pretenses about, He sees through all of our hypocrisy that we are sometimes blinded to about ourselves. If you call yourself a spiritual person, as many like to identify themselves as, then I respectfully ask for a little clarity as to what that means. ?I truly want to understand , I seek understanding as to what and how that is quantified. I think that if you some how connect with all of the beauty that is in nature. The trees, stars, the beauty of a full moon, the leaves on the trees as they change colors, or the morning whistle of the birds in the spring, to say nothing about gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. These are all things put into place by God for us to enjoy, so its the equivalent of worshipping or communing with the created things, opposed to the creator Himself. If your spirituality is based on being kind to others and following the golden rule, then you are crossing over into humanism. Yes, there is nothing quite like the smile on a child’s face, but it is still something that falls under creation and something that points back to God. Let me back up for a second on the humanism thing. If you are a person, who is banking on your good out weighing your bad, or treating others the way you want to be treated, or just some how thinking that leading a good moral life gets you there, that’s great!, but how do you quantify that? How do you determine, who or what is good enough. How do you obtain an objective measurement or measurable standard. If you are some how the judge of what the standard is and you are measuring that against other imperfect people, the waters get murky, rather quickly . I was recently challenged by an Indian missionary about what sin is and how its a hard concept for Hindus to grasp based on their culture and how some people’s whole profession is based on being dishonest and being able to con other people for their mere existence to be able to eat and survive. On the surface I want to reject that argument, but I’ve never been to India, nor do I know the culture, so I will leave room for me to be incorrect. The premise with me wanting to reject that argument is that I believe that God has instilled in all of us an innate ability to know the difference between right and wrong. Psychopaths or other individuals with some other mental deficiencies , may be the exception to this, but in general, I believe most people know that it’s wrong to take things that don’t belong to them , we know when we are being less than honest with our words and in our conversations with others, and we surely know that it is wrong to take a life, without some serious valid reason such as self defense. We live in a very diverse country and we are very divided as a nation, and that will prove true next week as we head to the polls for the midterm elections. I’m not going to grapple with the political mess that has become our process with all of the misinformation ,mud slinging and sometimes down right out lies. I just want to acknowledge that with all of our many people groups and so many hyphenated designations, that we can be all over the map with things. I want to simplify it , and make it about just two groups of people, and I want to say that one is not better than the other, but that is not exactly true, but probably not for the reasons that most think. Ok, two groups are, people who know God and those who don’t. Plain and simple. Ok, people who know God aren’t some how superior, because they have many of the same complaints and hardships as those who don’t know God, but the approach has to be or should be different, if they are a person of faith. Since I’m simplifying things, let’s just get on the record and say that God doesn’t grade on a curve or somehow categorizes sin. There are not some sins that are worse than others. We like to think so, because it makes us feel better about ourselves. God sees sin as sin, so a little white lie is equivalent to adultery, and taking a pen from work is the same as murder. If you don’t get that, then something is missing in your understanding of who God is. I will tell you first hand that God’s kids are some of the most messed up and broken people that you will find on the face of the planet. If my saga isn’t proof positive of that, then just look around. We can’t, or at least we shouldn’t be the one’s going around pointing fingers, because we don’t have it all together, but we may want you to think so. No one has their house in perfect order, and never will be on this side of eternity. This may sound odd or perhaps a little crazy, but the biggest difference between those two groups is that , one group is forgiven and the other group has not recognized their need for forgiveness . And again, God’s kids struggle with forgiveness, which may seem like an oxymoron, considering what they have been forgiven for, or of. We are imperfect people and we are working out ,what God has worked in. That last sentence is not a riddle, but a reference to salvation. God offers a free gift, that many overlook, and while its free, He says to count the cost of following Him. He does not promise a care free life without problems, He just says that you don’t have to face them alone, and that He will always be with you through it all. I’m really not good at this putting a bow on things, but I’m going to give it a shot. My most sincere hope is that this blog makes a connection with people on some level as to the understanding that we are all on a journey and that some of us are a work in progress…..aka ,under construction ☺️☺️. I want you guys to know that whatever your worst failings may be, whether its parenting, partnering, or some other deficiency ,that is not who you are, nor does it define you. I want you to know that a poor beginning does not disqualify you from a fantastic finish. I want you to know that people who seem the least deserving of grace and forgiveness , are probably the ones who need it most. I want you to realize that we are all broken in some shape form or fashion, even the ones whom seem to have it all together. They don’t, they are just better at hiding and disguising their imperfections. I want to reach out and share with all of you who are just striving to be the best that you can, and living for other people’s approval, and to know that God excepts you just as you are, and that striving is unnecessary because of the finished work on the cross. I can’t even begin to think about how many of you out there suffer with esteem issues and feeling as if you aren’t enough or that you don’t some how measure up. We beat ourselves up about weight, bad habits, and even that one boob is bigger than the other, when you are probably the only person who notices, cut yourself some slack and live in the grace that God offers . My some what final narrative here is that God loves you, just as you are , and He wants to connect with you in a very real and meaningful way. I’m going to make a suggestion here, and some of you will get it while others won’t, but in this case it’s the effort that counts. I’m going to give you a name and the name of a song and I want you to Google it and give it a listen. I’m still working things out with my legal team about what I can use and post about other people’s content, copyrights and all, and needing permission, but I can surely encourage you to visit their site. The gentleman’s name is Mathew West. The name of the song is ” Me On Your Mind “, give it a listen and I hope that you find the blessing tucked away within it. And as always , your questions and comments are welcomed ☺️.
