Monthly Archives: August 2015

Thank You God!

18 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by in Praises and Thanks

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My First Royalty Check

…And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ~ Colossians 3:15b-17, ESV

 

Yesterday I received my first royalty check, and it is for Perfect Peace—my book of haiku poetry. What a true blessing it is to know that more than a couple of people has purchased my first published book.  Without doubt, it is God’s wonderful blessing and favor that have made it possible for me to sell a poetry book—at a time when there does not seem to be a deep love for poetry or a big demand for poetry books.

Of course there are the thousands of books by American high-profile poets that are selling rather well, BUT that is quite a rare exception in the poetry world—an exception reserved for only a few elite poets who have built a reputation for themselves over MANY years (for example, poets like Maya Angelou, Allen Ginsberg and Nikki Giovanni, as well as U.S. Poet Laureates like Rita Dove, Donald Hall, Billy Collins and Natasha Trethewey).

As a poet, I am more of an idealist and dreamer—just like so many American poets were who published books in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s (when I was a budding poet). That my poems also tend to be principled and pensive are why I am very honored that some people purchased Perfect Peace, at a time when most readers are more interested in horror, mystery, herbal remedies, pointless fantasies, and/or self-help books.

The above facts are why I say, God certainly has been good to me! Thank You God!!!!!!!!

My sincerest ‘thank you’ also goes to everyone who bought my first published book—Perfect Peace. In case you might want to know about my next book, it looks like my second book to be published—Keeping It Real: Daily Renewing the Mind, which is my first one-year devotional—might be published in time for holiday shopping!

 

To God be the Glory . . . . .

Seven Unities

16 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in Devotional

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Christian Unity

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ~ Ephesians 4:4-7, ESV

 

There are seven unities that all believers in the Body of Christ share. As members of ONE Body of Believers, we all have Father God’s ONE Spirit. Then too, our ONE Father calls us to ONE Hope through ONE Faith in ONE Lord and ONE Baptism. These seven unties bind us—all believers in Christ—to one another. These seven unities also perfect us—they spiritually complete believers who are true Christ followers.

Now even though we all do not have the same function—we are not all pastors—our Lord’s true Body has no divisions. In other words, it is because of God’s seven Unities that we all should be preaching and teaching the same Divine Truths. According to the unadulterated Word of God, it is by His ONE Spirit that we all make up Christ’s ONE Body. It also is by His ONE Spirit that we all have the same Commission our ONE Lord (ONE Master) first gives to His initial Disciples.

The bottom line is that we all possess equal status in the Kingdom of God—we born again and saved Christ followers are Kingdom of God Citizens. Most important is the fact that—as Kingdom of God Citizens—our equal status is independent of our measure of faith. Our equal status also is independent of our spiritual callings. In Christ our function(s), our level of spirituality, our years of formal training, our years in His Vineyard, our years in a local church, or our chronological age neither makes any of us more important nor less influential than someone else in the Kingdom of God. The point here is that—regardless if we are first-century or twenty-first century believers in Christ—the unity that Christ’s finished Work on the Cross makes possible for His Body to have is more important to God than our diversities. Unfortunately, we neither seek nor welcome the unity God wants to see in the Body of Christ—the unity that is the Godhead kind of Oneness.

God does not want us to have any divisions. This truth is why He is not pleased with our different ideologies, theologies and denominations. He sees how they divide us into opposing groups of disciples. He sees how our friendly-fire skirmishes deny the Oneness that His indivisible Unities give us. This truth is why we—Christ’s Disciples—need to seek and receive the Oneness that God desires to see in Christ’s ONE Body. Shalom.

 

~ from my soon-to-be-published manuscript – Keeping It Real: Daily Renewing the Mind