!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> rachman-unprecedented: October 2007

rachman-unprecedented

So what is this going to be? A little bit of everything I think. Maybe that's it. What I'm thinking. What I'm believing. I hope what I'm knowing. And why would anyone care what I think I know? There's no reason in the world that you should. But then why are you here? Cuz you have to be somewhere I suppose. I've never been here before. I may not be back. I might get too busy to care; time is short. That's fine. Nobody can deal with it all at once. There is a lot to deal with.

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Location: The Great Plains, United States

I try not to take myself too seriously, but I know I have far too much. So I'm trying to learn how to laugh again, as I had forgotted for a while there. Also I'm relearning to enjoy life; you know, like when we were kids. The biggest challenge ahead is learning how to love God with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. This one is not really that hard when you know the truth. But along with it comes learning to love others as I love myself, and that one is, as they say, "a horse of a whole different color." I think I need to learn to love myself a little more, but the problem may be that I know all these facts about me. Sometimes the facts are simply wrong or they are just stuck in the past. I'm trying to get my facts to line up with the truth. As someone once asked a great man, "what is truth?" If he had only known.

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Trick or Treat?


Happy Halloween!

The dictionary says that October 31 is celebrated in the U.S. by children going door to door while wearing costumes and begging treats and playing pranks. This is also the time of year that the politicians start getting into their costumes and going door to door begging treats and playing pranks. It can be a scary time of year. It is already in full swing to be truthful, but like the kids who wear their costumes early, no one but their mom is really paying that much attention yet. Hang on. The year ahead could be quite a ride.
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~ rachman
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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Does God Speak Today?


A friend I used to work with, told me this story just the other day. Some people would say that it is nonsense, but I have found that God does some amazing things if we will just learn to listen and let him work. I don't think that anyone who knows me, would call me naive, but I have chosen to believe the things I hear if they glorify good. I have certainly believed enough of the bad things that I hear, so there is always that choice. But it seems only right that I should learn to believe the good things. Listen and see what you think.
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A young man had been to Wednesday Night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, 'Does God still speak to people?' After service, he went out with some friends for coffee and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. 'Maybe,' he thought.
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It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, 'God...If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.' As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, 'God is that you?' He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. 'Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.' It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.
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As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, 'Turn Down that street.' This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, 'Okay, God, I will.' He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi- commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, 'Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.' The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. 'Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.' Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, 'Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here.'
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He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, 'Who is it? What do you want?' Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. 'What is it?' The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, 'Here, I brought this to you.' The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward what was probably the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, 'We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk.' His wife in the kitchen yelled out, 'I ask God to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?' The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put it in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.
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He now knew that God still speaks to people.
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~ rachman
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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Clueless about God?


Most people are pretty clueless when it comes to knowing about God and what He is going to do. Well...He is pretty "far out there" for a lot of folks, so let's try and get a clue. Take a quick look at what the Bible says about God. First John 4:8 and 4:16 both say that, God is love. If that be the case, then first Corinthians 13:4-8 says this about God.
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God endures long and is patient and kind [But, I thought He was supposed to be mean and quick tempered? Guess I was wrong.]; God never is envious nor boils over with jealousy [Yeah, I know--the Old Testament says He is a jealous God. He will not put up with other gods among His people, or those folks who have by their own free will, chosen to follow Him. But let's come back down to earth. The Bible also tells us that He gives us a wife or husband for it's not so good for humans to be alone. He knows that we need other people in our lives; He started the whole thing after all. He gives us children. He puts us in a family. He wants us to be a part of the "body of Christ." Part of a community. He is not jealous of all the other relationships with which He has blessed us], He is not boastful or vainglorious, He does not display Himself haughtily. God is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride) [Actually it was the devil, then known as Lucifer, in which the pride and arrogance were found]; He is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly [That's kinda' interesting. In this day and age? Most of us don't even understand the concept of acting unbecomingly in front of other people. Yet the God of the Universe will not embarrass us or make us feel bad or uncomfortable]. God does not insist on His own rights or His own way [Now wait a minute! God does insist on His own way--doesn't He? Actually we would not even be discussing this, if He insisted that we do things His way. It's because we have a choice that we are wondering about this whole thing], for He is not self-seeking [Remember that He wants to be our father if we will let Him. He does try to warn us if we are about to touch the hot stove. May be all those "thou shalt not's" were there to help us and not to cause us to miss out on all the fun. He is seeking our good. But perhaps I digress?]; He is not touchy or fretful or resentful; He takes no account of the evil done to Him (He pays no attention to a suffered wrong) [Even the things said about Him don't really put Him off that much. He can handle it a lot better than we do. No matter how many jokes you have told or have even laughed at, He is not waiting to "get you for that," as that silly old joke from television used to go]. God does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but He rejoices when right and truth prevail [He really does want equality among the races and between the two sexes]. God bears up under anything and everything that comes, He is ever ready to believe the best of every person [He wants you to do well. He wants good in your life. He did not die for you, just so He could see you suffer in other ways], His hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and He endures everything (without weakening). God never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end). [Maybe God is not "so bad" after all.]
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~ rachman
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Friday, October 12, 2007

No Defeat!


There’s no such thing as defeat. There’s always another chance. To believe in defeat is to believe that there is something, a certain point in time that did not come from Above. Know that God doesn't have failures. If things appear to worsen, it is only as part of them getting better. We only fall down in order to bounce back even higher.

~ Jewish Wisdom from the Web

Now I don't agree with everything that I read from the Jewish sages or even from the Jewish Internet, but I must admit that I like the gist of this short comment. I believe there is a personal enemy and everything that happens is not from God. But as long as there is breath, there is another chance. And God does indeed not have failures. Things do appear worse before getting better, many times because of that enemy. And lastly when we fall, since God has no failures; we can rise higher than before in, with, and through God.
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~ rachman
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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Turtle Philosophy


We make the mistake in thinking, "to survive life we can't trust anyone." As a result many adopt the "turtle philosophy." They pull in their head and arms and legs for protection and don't come out again. This sometimes happens metaphorically and sometimes it happens almost literally. Either way it is the turtle philosophy that drives us inside. God hates this mentality. Genesis 2:18(NLT) tells us that the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Yet we live in a shell and conjure up a fake version of ourselves. We don't even know who we are, since we are meant to exist in relationship to other people.
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We live in a performance driven society. When we're not hiding "inside," we perform for the people around us. If we think that we may not perform well, we take performance enhancing drugs to ensure that the job is done right. When we leave a party, a meeting, a sporting event, or even the job we work at every day, if we are still free of the enhancing drugs, we often think, "thank god, that is over," because we have had to perform through out the event or all through the day.
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Galatians 1:10 (NLT) Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
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Like the Apostle Paul, we must become free of people in order to be who we really are. We are called to love people and not perform for them. Only when we're free from people will we move from performance to love. In all our relationships there is no performance needed; only love. When we walk in love, we can move forward unprotected. No we can't move blindly along like the turtle moving blindly across the road through traffic, but neither can we keep pulling in our heads whenever we come upon other people. Nor can we start the performance of yet another "road show." We must learn to be who we are for all to see. Who is inside that shell?
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~ rachman
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Wednesday's Wisdom


Each night we lie down and before dosing off to sleep, we forgive ourselves for all our trespasses. We decide to love ourselves unconditionally and we wipe the slate clean of any wrongs that we have committed. We can be most magnanimous and loving toward ourselves.
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~God doesn't like inconsistencies~
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We are commanded to love others the same way that we love ourselves. We are to forgive others the same way that we forgive ourselves. We are to wipe their slate clean of any wrongs they may have done to us, just as we have done for ourselves.
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Should we not forgive others so that we will be forgiven ourselves? Yes, it is easier said than done, but then everything is easier "said" than actually doing it.
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I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. ~ Philippians 4:13
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~ rachman
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