48. The Ilusion of Separation

Are we separate from God?  More pointedly is God absent from his creation?  Was our being cast out of the Garden of Eden the same as our being cast away from the presence of God?  Have we been abandoned by a God that hides in plain sight, or worse yet sits in judgement on some celestial throne?

And if there is seperation – what is the nature of that seperation?  Has God rejected us?  Are we despised?  Has he grown angry with us, and thus has cast us aside?

The story of the fall is fascinating to me.  After we had done the one of two things he had asked us not to do, we then hid. We hid from God, we tried to hide ourselves and to cover ourselves with leaves.  It was our shame and our fear of God, that was the source of our separation at that time.

This concept is repeated in Isaiah 59:1 & 2

                   Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,

    nor his ear too dull to hear.

But your iniquities have separated

    you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

    so that he will not hear.

So yes, there is a separation, but it is not God who has moved.  We have not moved beyond his grasp, nor have we moved so far away that he cannot hear.  Psalm 139 repeats this sentiment, there is no where we can go that God is not.

Psalm 139:7 & 8

Where can I go from your Spirit?

    Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

I understand being in the presence of someone, even God, and feeling separate.   As I look back I cannot remember what it was that I said or did, and truly it matters not.  It was a moment of stupidity, a moment of weakness – when my less that better nature got the better of me.  I do know that I hurt her.  Even as I write this, I feel the inward cringe, and tears tempt my eyes.  But I know in that moment, Wanna and I were separate.  We were in the same room, it would have been more comfortable for me to have been in another house, preferably in another city, in another country.

In that moment I would have given anything to have taken back time, and that act - something to show how sorrowful my grief was at that time, it is even so now.  Having experienced  that moment, not a moment of vileness, not a moment of wickedness, but a moment of weakness, that I view separation differently. I have spent months physically separated from Wanna, none were a painful as those few hours where I had to come to terms with what I had done. 

Separation – that feeling of apartness is not about a physicality, it is about emotion.  For us, I believe that it is about the shame and fear that is experienced in the presence of God.  Shame about what we have done, and fear of retribution.  God has not moved, we are not separated, but sin, which which keeps us from God, makes it so that we are unaware of his love for us.

This is more than just a philosophical or theological consideration – for in our separation from God, lies the heart of the practices that at best can be summed up as “I am better than you.” I believe, this separation from God, this feeling of being distant if not totally absent from his presence leads to many vile practices within religion.  For at the heart of this is our fear that we are in fact insignificant. 

This attempt to be better than one’s neighbour, is seen in a number of practices.  Legalism, of which many religions are afflicted, exists as an attempt to show that we are more obedient, spiritual, refined, mature, insert adjective here, than the person standing next to us.  Sacrifices as well are offered, some to appease the anger of God, some to restore honour to the family, others still as an attempt to show we are better than.

I believe it is this perception of separation, combined with a fear of death that lays at the heart of many of our practices.  These practices run counter to God’s will, for they detract from the Love of God, His Forgiveness, and focus on punishment – which I believe is something we people are much more interested in.

47. The Problem of Sin

I have been challenged as to some of the stuff I have written, and I do welcome that challenge.  One of the points of my blog is to encourage others to explore and challenge their own beliefs, and thus mature in faith.  As mentioned in an earlier post, for me it does not cut it to simply answer that it is what was taught from the pulpit, when I am asked to account for my faith.  And to my way of thinking I would rather explain a heresy earnestly believed than support a doctrine simply endorsed for convenience sake – but realize that is me.

So I have been asked about my objection to penal substitution.  And for me the doctrine of penal substitution encompasses so much within the context of our relationship to God, and in the nature of humanity.  Central to the events of the cross are the problems of sin and the nature of redemption and the idea of hell – hell being the place of eternal conscious torment. In order to explain my resistance I need to explain what I see as being the context of the cross.

And so I begin my explanation with sin: what is it?  Sin is simply that which keeps me from my intended nature and moves me further away from God.  It is easy enough for me to spot, mostly, in my own life – it is the stuff that I regret.  It is that crap I have done that makes me cringe when I think of it.  I also know that there are myriad ways that I am kept from being who I called to be, or created to be, and keeps me from experiencing the Joy, Wonder and Love of God.  These ways are often not obvious to me.

I have heard a lot about sin as disobedience.  And I know for myself often sin is choice, and that yes it is disobedience.  But when I consider my addiction – for being caught in the grips of my sin – it was not a matter of disobedience.  It was not like Sunday, November 23, 1983 I woke up and went “Hey, today I will obey the Lord!”

Yes, it was me who decided to stop and buy the box of beer, the bottle of booze and or the bag of dope.  And yes it was me who willing drank the booze and did the drugs.  But to say that was all my choice greatly misunderstands just how crazy I was at the time, and the absolute lack of choice I truly had.

The morning that I woke up and walked away from my addiction I think that moment, the miracle that happened, was that I saw exactly what my addiction was doing to me.  I had seen what my father’s addiction had done to him. That day, somehow, I was able to walk away from my sin.  Very much it was a journey of fear – I had known no one who had ever been able to be clean and sober.  Thus, it was with fear and trembling that I worked out my very literal salvation.

Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.”

The struggle I see is between what my nature – self absorbed, petty and hostile and what I am called to be, or created to be, compassionate and loving.  And maybe it just me, I have so many times when I just cringe at what I have done or not done.  For me, I see the issue of sin not as being one of our depravity, though there can be a case made for such, but an issue of my frailty.  I see the struggle as giving into that ever present self seeking – greedy – angry nature. 

As St. Paul writes – Oh what wretched man I am, for I do what I do not want to do, and do not do what I so desire.  Rom 7:19 (Drew Paraphrased Bible).

And so really, I ask, mostly myself, is God angry with me because of my sin?  And I don’t believe so, I do believe that God is angered by my sin.  He is angered that I am petty minded, self seeking, and less than what I could be.  But being angry at me, because I am weak?  Being angry that I am satisfied with petty distractions such as porn?  I am not so sure he is, I am not so sure that there would be a point to being angry.  For me, wretched soul that I am, I could not see a God who is infinite in compassion, love and patience, being angry with me. 

I believe that the first time I used drugs that a process of decay was set in motion.  I believe that if I had died without that process being interrupted that it would follow me past the gates of death.  To be caught in that addiction was hell and would continue to be so. 

I think about what I lose by the nonsense I do.  And yes, for God who sees with greater clarity than I what is lost, it must be incredibly angering.  I hope and pray that I continue to mature spiritually, that I put down childish diversions such as my litany of resentments, and that I grow in strength of the spirit. 

So as I write that I am committed to the belief that sin is not about disobedience, but about our failure to be truly human – I truly mean that.  We were created as being God-like – we were created to be in relationship to him. 

This sets the foundation for why I resist Penal Substitution.  More will follow.

46. My committments

The year of blogging is coming to an end.  By my estimation I will have 49 posts up by the end of the year.  Not quite once per week, but close.  Better than I thought I would do.  It has been a struggle.  And mostly, I have written for myself – this has been my devotional, my meditation.

          I have confronted that which I have either learned, or imagine I have learned, or somehow or other come to acquire as believing people have decided God is, or should be: stuff that I have felt, or believed, to not be truth.  It has been an exorcism as a friend of mine has called this writing.  Loosing those demons of my life that have been fueled by a vision skewed by early childhood trauma, my own addiction, and depression.

          Trust me when you feel like life is full of impending doom, the bible is probably the LAST book you should read.

          This is a process that began with the death of my father in 1986, and will continue.  It has seen me reject Christianity, and I mostly still do, seek God elsewhere, and has seen me return.  But, let’s start at the beginning.

          My dad was dying of cancer.  This is man whose entire life seemed to be a mission to get it.  There were times that he drank two to three 26 oz bottles of vodka a day, for years at a time.  As AA states he was in the grip of powerful and baffling illness.  I do not think that he chose that life. 

          As he lay dying, I had come to visit him one weekend.  That Sunday I went to church, the one I had attended with the Drunken Charismatic Lutherans.  The mother of a friend of mine asked me what I was doing in town.  I told her about my dad dying, and she replied that we needed to save his eternal soul.

          This resulted in a declaration.  I did not believe that Jesus had come to earth to die on the cross for us, just so that he could send a man who had not made a rational decision in twenty years to hell.  She quoted scripture.  I told her that obviously we did not believe in the same God.

          From that point forward I struggled with church.  I still do.  I also came to believe that religion has no place in my life.  By religion, I mean the organized set of doctrines that take precedence over the leanings of the Holy Spirit in me, and my understanding of the Bible, and my relationship to Jesus.  I still have little time for religion.

          I sought God, divinity, in two different practices; Paganism and Buddhism.  What I saw, was the same attempt by people to usurp the relationship between God and his creation.  A different version, but the same dynamic that I had seen in church – “Gerald Gardner wrote, I believe it, that settles it.”  In a spirituality that by intent rejects legalism, I saw people creating rules to follow – that would apply to both Buddhism and Paganism.

          In the end, I came to believe that there was nowhere for me to fit.  And then a curious thing happened, I saw a child walking up the centre aisle of a church – and came to realize I had found a home.  I also came to realize that it was up to me to carve a place for me in the body of Christ.  Maybe carve is not the right word.

          And then this blog.  Part apologetics – a word I detest – explaining the word of God.  Part meditation.  Part Soap Box. 

          What has impressed me, is how simple the message of the gospel seems.  As I read it, it seems that what God wants is to have us love him and each other.  God being God, is a he cause it is easier for us – just ask someone what gender is God? 

          So....as I come to the close of the year, what have I found?

          I am even more committed to opposing the doctrine of Penal Substitution, and although I do believe there is power in the Cross, it is the resurrection where the power of Christ is truly found.  (It is the only act of his that we are asked to believe). (Rom 10:9)

          I am committed to the belief that sin is not about disobedience, but about our failure to be truly human – Paul writes about that he is trapped in a body that will not do what he wants it to do and does what he does not want it to do. Yes, disobedience does play a role, but it is the damage that our acts do that saddens and angers God, not our failure to follow his check list.

          I am committed to the belief that we are the ones that desire punishment and sacrifice.  The adage of an eye for eye is not a recipe for justice, but a limitation on our vengeance.  I believe that the requirements for sacrifice, are similarly designed to appease our appetite for violence.

          I am committed to the belief that I am called to be loving.  In the ministry of Jesus I see first and foremost a declaration that God desires nothing more that to be in relationship to us.  And with this belief comes the belief that there is no place where the presence of God can be experienced more powerfully than in the space that is created between you and I as we come together in love.

          I am committed to allowing the Love of God to cast out all fear.  For I believe it is fear that keeps from him and from you.  And trust me, I have a long long way to go.  Do I need repeat that I have a long way to go?

          I am committed to growing in faith, and wait for it – maturity – so all of what have written is subject to change.

Finally - I am committed to editing before I post.

45. A Terrible Plan

I am going to kill someone.  While no crime will actually be committed, and the violence committed on my part is unobservable, I am killing someone.  I feel quite justified in doing so, hopefully to take such drastic action I should feel justified.  As well most of you who read this would support me in my decision.

          The situation developed a while ago, as myself and my family went to considerable lengths to help this man.  This included employing him – not an act of generosity as much as recognizing that he was in a particularly unique position to be of service.  The assistance offered him was not entirely altruistic – it is not that either me or my family went “What great people we are for doing this!” – But it was that rush of actually making a difference in someone’s life.

          Then two weeks ago there developed a situation at work.  His response was to resign, and although I let that happen, I also gave him his letter of termination.  Thus, it was a mutually agreed upon parting of ways, but I needed to assure him that there was no return.

          Since then he has been somewhat vocal about me.  He has told people that he is angry with me, and is not planning to talk to me for a while.  And I know there will come a time when he will want to speak to me. It is at that point that I will kill him.

          My message to him will be that I have indeed mistreated him, and that such treatment should not be tolerated.  I will include that the best course of action would be to never acknowledge my presence again, and do not speak to me.  Sort of the back handed way of telling him to fuck off.  I want it to hurt.  I want it to hurt as much as I have felt hurt.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

          There are other verses that I have used in justifying this plot, not surprisingly one of the has to do with pigs.  That is that magic of the bible, we can usually find some verse to justify what it is that we are up to.  I ignore God’s request that he desires mercy not sacrifice, as well, as the admonition to love him as I love myself.

          Before you assume that this is just hyperbole, addiction is such a strange phenomena that to be isolated can be fatal.  So truly, it is not just killing him off, as in “You are dead to me.”  There are consequences that extend beyond this decision.  And while I believe that my actions, or at least, my plan is the correct one, like all else in my life it is warped and convoluted by my fallen nature.  And it is that which troubles me.  As well, the fact that I dwell upon this situation troubles me.  Today it interrupted the sermon on hope.  It ran havoc with my day.  And in the end, I think makes me less than what I am called to be.

          A few weeks ago, I listened to a pod cast – those marvels of the internet – which discussed Satan.  The concept presented was that Satan – the tempter and the accuser – was not a being but a position.  The podcast went on to present the concept that we, you and I, can and do take the place of Satan.  Scary concept!  The podcast discussed the temptation of Jesus, and posited that perhaps we in our own ways – tempt Jesus the same as when he was in the wilderness.  And I realize that in my anger I am the accuser.

          But today, I miss my friend – and am terribly hurt by what has happened.  I hate being as convoluted and complicated as what I am.  My desire for Jesus to return, is really a desire that life be simple and fun, a desire to have this struggle taken away from me.  The deliverance I seek is from this nature of mine.

          I have not much more to say.  It is a situation where I am struggling with my desire for retribution much more so than just letting go and getting on with life.

44. Lessons from Recovery

This week I celebrated 30 years of abstaining from drugs and alcohol.  While it was a continuous journey out of the depths of addiction, the path was not easy nor was it straight forward.  In many ways I was crazier than when I used. It has been a struggle of surrendering to God on increasingly more fundamental levels of my life.  In this path I have confronted depression, and other obsessions and compulsions, one obsession was a desire to end my own life, and an understanding of my own brokenness.  I have also come to know a love and peace that is much more than I ever expected.  In recognition of this, I want to share a bit of what I have learned. 

Understand as you read this that for me recovery, spirituality and life are synonymous and interchangeable.  Although I did make a conscious decision about Christ, salvation and acceptance when I was seventeen, I did not get clean and sober until I was 24. That decision when I was seventeen was based on fear of going to hell, and muddled in the trauma of surviving my family and the insanity of addiction.  So in many ways I had to reject that decision in order to mature. 

My journey through recovery has also included attending and leaving churches.  Much of this has been due to my love of God and my resistance to much of the doctrine I hear.  As well, much of this has been also due to my reluctance to people telling me what to do.  But, I have kept moving, one day at a time, called by loved.  So this is some of what I have learned.

The power of grace in a yielded heart

There are two miracles - the first that I have committed to being clean for 30 years.  The second is that God has removed the obsession and compulsion that is addiction.  It has been a divine partnership between me and God.  I have obviously done things to keep me clean, to call this obedience greatly over exaggerates my maturity.  But it has been the mystery of me doing what I can - at times reluctantly - and letting the Love and Grace of God work in my life.  And in truth I wonder how much of what has come to be is actually my doing?

It is not one decision

On that morning on 1983 November 23 that I looked at myself in the mirror and surrendered - that was not the end of it.  Everyday since then there has been the same decision to surrender.  Some days the decision not to use was made hours if not moments at a time. Equally - everyday there is a moment, sometimes fleeting, that I am amazed and grateful for my life.  I often see an emphasis on the decision, we emphasis the catharsis of coming to Christ, that has not been my experience, it is in the daily following where miracles happen.

Keep It Simple

Honestly, I can become obsessed with a single word in scripture and what is meant by it.  Spirituality comes down to am I being loving.  We, I , get far too caught up words, labels, concepts and in the process forget the task at hand.  Yes, I have done the same with the Basic Text of Narcotics Anonymous.  The Bible and the other literature seems to keep matters quite simple.  Love God, love your neighbour,

Progress not perfection

At some point faith needs to shift from how can I stop being a doofus to how do I live imperfectly.  How do I live in love while still being strange?  I still have a propensity to over react and to become angry, but I am called into service.  And while my life is made better by having a joyful heart - I still need to serve my Lord even if I am grumbling.  I also cut myself some slack, after all I no longer pass out in peoples houses or puke on their front lawns.  No longer to I go on drunken tirades of other people.  I have come to realize that I will always struggle, but I can always serve.

The point of spirituality is to live in Grace today.

The reward of my life is not some distant reward - most often projected as the avoidance of punishment - it is living a life that I am meant to live.  The benefit of living life based on spiritual basis is that it is so much easier for me to live with myself.  I truly believe that I am called to live in right relationship with God, and those around me.

Life can never been done alone.

The first tradition of NA and AA is that our common welfare should come first - that we rely on unity with our fellowship.  Anyone who has been around either fellowship will know that this is what we strive for and rarely achieve.  But in this tradition that recovery/spirituality/life is not a self-help activity.  So it is with my spirituality and I see profound wisdom in being told that whenever two or more of us are gathered in his name that he is there.

The best I can do is worry about my path.

While I am called to be of service to others, my focus needs to be on my walk, on whether I am obeying God.  What you do, unless it impacts,me, is really none of my business.  While you and I need to walk together, it is through mutual support and affection that we can make progress.  The best I can hope to be is not wrong.

43. The Sexual Sin we Should be Outraged About

In the past little while there have been six sexual assaults out at the University of British Columbia.  This past week, the Vancouver Police announced the arrest of a man who had raped a woman after getting into a van that she had thought was a taxi.  And while working on this entry the police have announced they are looking for a suspect in the sexual assault of a 14 year old girl.

          So I have question.  Where is the righteous indignation? I have not heard, and I have been listening, to anything coming from my Christian brothers and sisters who have denounced homosexuality.  If we were interested in preserving the sanctity of sex, then why are we so mute about rape?

          I have not heard any glaring statements from pulpits decrying the sin of rape, sexual assault, or molestation.  I have not seen any signs saying “God Hates Rapists” Nor have I heard any comments about women and children being trafficked for sex.  It happens in Vancouver, and no doubt it happens in the city in which you live.  And just because you are paying some pimp or drug dealer does not mean it is not violent.

So I want to write, this day, about rape – about men’s part in rape – all of us and how we participate in the culture of rape.  I am not worried about whether there is a woman’s part, that is not up to me to address.

          If you have not heard it before, let me state it now – women were created to be respected and loved.  And know that as I write of love I am not talking of sexual service. Rape, sexual assault and molestation goes against the natural order that God intended.

          The story of creation, the story of where Eve, the first woman, was created from the rib of Adam, the first man, is a powerful story.  It is not about the man being created first, it is not about woman being created for the convenience of man, it is about us, men and women, being of the same substance.

          If you have taken the story of creation that woman was created to be of service to man, then you have missed the point.  It points to a greater truth – that “woman is the bone of my bone, and the flesh of my flesh, that she was taken out of man” speaks directly against violence against women. I believe there are a number of reasons why the story is told that way, and I think those reasons are just as valid today.

          And I want you to understand that sexual violence is not about desire, it is not about lust, it is not about anything other than visiting violence upon women.  Women do not ask for it, women do not put themselves at risk for it, women do nothing to deserve it.  Those arguments and comments that suggest she did something to entice sexual violence on herself speaks to the belief that somehow rape is a naturally occurring event.  It is not.  Women are not the perpetrators of this crime, we are.

          And understand that if we remain silent, if we do not take a stand, then we condone sexual violence.  I think in this culture that is that is the case.  It seems to be so ingrained that rape somehow  is permissible, understandable, acceptable, that we are put into a position that silence is approval. And I would ask of all people, not just men, in taking a stand against sexual violence to do a number of things.  They are:

1. Personalize such violence.

          Wanna works Sunday Evenings, it is not lost on me that someone, a man, would see her travelling alone after shift and decide she deserves to be raped.  After all she is inviting it because she is travelling on the Sky Train alone. Personalizing the violence changes the conversation.

2. Understand sexual violence is not funny.

          There are rape jokes, and whatever else may be funny, rape, or another kind of sexual violence is not funny.  To participate in humour is to state that sexual violence is okay.  Just as jokes about domestic violence are no longer considered funny, so should jokes about rape.

3. Understand that sexual violence is not the result of how a woman behaves.

          I don’t care how she dresses, what she says, how drunk she is, she cannot take your responsibility away from you.  Each person is responsible for their actions.  As my wife dresses in a way that reflects the value she feels about herself that is not an invitation to assault her.

4. Understand how you, or me, are part of the problem.

          Understand that as long as we see the problem being other people, nothing will change.  It is time to start the dialogue – that being a man means taking responsibility for your actions.  It is time to further the dialogue of the humanity of women.

5. Understand that women are not property.

          The myriad ways we have of commercializing women extends far beyond prostitution and pornography.  Realize the subtle and not so subtle ways we have of maintaining women’s roles as being property.

6. Finally, if you know a boy – so all of you – I suggest that you read the following and have the conversation with that boy or boys. It is time we got the message out – sexual violence is not part of being a man.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carina-kolodny/the-conversation-you-must-have-with-your-sons_b_3764489.html

That is my post this week – though I don’t have any bible verses up, I think God agrees with me.

42. Hell Girl Revisited

1 John 4:11 – 12 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

A number of weeks ago I posted about a woman with a particular dislike of me.  And it has been a challenge to say the least.  The challenge, as I am being honest, it that at a very fundamental level I like being angry.  Be it an addiction, trying to claim power, or just wanting to feel strong; I like being angry.

          Most days I live in victory over this, I am able to go about my day without having an edge or an attitude.  But it remains my fallback position.  I have my stories to justify why, and they are good stories at that.  But!      I have a spirituality that is grounded in AA.  Which tell me the following:

          It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness.  To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while.  But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance of and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave.  We found that it is fatal. For when harbouring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the (Holy) Spirit.

(Holy is my addition)

Now it is not like I am going to get sick and either drink or use because of this situation.  But, my anger has separated me from God.  It has also taken me away from the moments with Wanna – any of you who now how sweet she is knows what a waste it is to be denied that time.  It has denied me time with Jo EEE my kid.

         

          My desire to be angry with this situation, and it a desire, seemed to me to hold dangers for me.  There are number of reactions that one could have, and I am sure that most of us at some point would experience frustration and anger, but there are different ways of being with this situation.  So I sought to do something other than hate this woman and be angry.  I am not so evolved that I am able to love her, I do pray her, but I do not love her.  At most I have been able to be indifferent to her, a start.

         

          So, I set about to Let Go and Let God.  The idea being to let go of trying to control the situation, and let God move things to where they should be.  The catch with this concept for me has always been, the should be.  I am still paranoid about being sent to Nepal to preach the gospel to the unsaved hamsters.  So I did just that -  Let Go and Let God.  I prayed for the situation, and set about doing what I do best. 

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

It is not like all of a sudden things changed.  It is not like the woman woke up one morning and said, “Boy have I been mean to that nice man.”

          In fact in many ways the situation has continued.  There have been more discussion about me, and no I do not agree that any publicity is good publicity.  But, me and my cohorts have continued to do what we do best. 

          Then this week, was my annual review.  Now, don’t get confused that my annual review came ten months after I started.  But I was summoned with my files to a meeting to have those files and the agency practices reviewed.  Now, the person the reviewing is one of those that support my agency, those that actually provide the direct care to these men and woman (we have only one right now).

          As this review happened I was in the midst of a crisis.  This crisis was not of our, or my, own making.  Another agency, larger and more established, had dropped the ball with one of their people being supported.  The man, and his dog, and his belongings needed to be moved by noon of that day.  So, while the agency is being reviewed on paper, three of this agencies workers got to see the agency in action.

          They saw one person manage the dog, another get the man, and a third get the belongings – he had furniture.  They got to see what we as an agency do best.  By the end of business that day, not only had we managed a crisis, but we had developed a long term plan for the continued support and care of this man.

          Now one could say that this was just happy coincidence, and maybe it was.  But, my faith had me concentrating on what I needed to do, so that when the opportunity arose, I and those who work with me, were able to show case our strengths.  In that moment, we were able to show why we as an agency are so valuable.

          Oh, and the dog.  His name is Cody – there is no requirement for confidentiality for pets – was identified as being aggressive.  And at first he was a bit distraught, as his human buddy was distraught.  As I said good bye to the man, I got a kiss from the aggressive German Shephard.

Ephesians 4:31 & 32  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.