02/03/2010   If the type is too small to read,
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9/9/09 I started writing for the Examiner. Maybe I do this because I have never been successful at keeping a journal. Journaling is very important if you want to know yourself, monitor your relationships with God and others, and especially if you want to see how God works in your life. Still, I fail miserably in this area; like the parent who smokes, but tells their children not to.

Like most of us I suppose, I have poems, pages and scraps of paper in the closet, in a drawer, in a footlocker. I have this thing about footlockers. I just love them, but I have a couple I really need to open to see what's inside. I think one of them is full of my old Gene Scott tapes. Yeah, I really liked him back in the 80's, before he went off the deep end.

There is something about people on the edge that appeals to me. I don't mean the folks who try to live on the edge, I mean the folks who just don't give a rip what anyone else thinks. This may sound foolish, but you can learn a lot from people who don't listen to what everyone else says, but yeah, you have to be careful.

I believe Scripture makes it clear I am not supposed to do anything to hurt anyone else. If I am a follower of Christ I am supposed to love my neighbor. In the case of Jesus, he love(s) everyone. I believe everyone is made in the image of God and therefore everyone has God's Spirit within them. The choice to embrace or reject God's Spirit is a God given gift. If that choice is God given shouldn't it be respected?

History indicates that often the church has not respected this God given gift to reject the love of God. God said, "Choose." Should we not respect that? How many people have been mentally, emotionally and spiritually wounded or killed by missionary zeal? Do  NOT  hear me say we should  NOT  be missionaries.

Those who follow Christ are something like the volunteers at the Hood to Coast run here in Portland every year. They are not there to run anyone's race for them. They are not there to tell the runners how to run. Their function is to provide refreshment and encouragement.

I am  NOT  ashamed of my faith and belief in the death and resurrection of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Testimony is not dependent, however, on theology, philosophy, or psychology. Can you reconcile humility to tests of scholarship, articulate contests of words, or the stronger crushing the weaker? More people rejected the message of the Apostle Paul than accepted it. Testimony is lived. Persuasion is a derivative of lifestyle.

At the same time we are not called to be part of the so called 'Silent Majority.' In 1776 the following was written and hopefully still applies.

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We are called to be salt. Salt is an active ingredient. It does not remain on a shelf. We are set apart to be different, to live according to the Bible and Nature's God as written in the Declaration of Independence. We are called to vote, take a stand against injustice and die if necessary. We are not called to yell insults, degrade or hurt those who disagree with us.

I write all this to say I am now writing for The Examiner. I enjoy writing and though the climate can be uncomfortable at times, I feel it is something I am supposed to do. God can use the smallest of things to make a big difference in the life of someone else. Who can find a tiny light in a well lit room? Maybe outside the walls of the church a small light can make a difference.

I hope you will read my postings and I hope you will occasionally find them helpful in your own journey. This page is just to introduce you to my articles. I hope you will read some and please feel free to comment and let me know whether or not you disagree. I am teachable and I am well aware that I do not have any answers anyone can rely on, but then, I don't believe that you have the final answer either. Maybe we can discover some truth together.