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A Morning View From the Wood Stove

"Garbage In - Garbage Out."
I remember when computers first came out into the public for personal usage, just a few years ago, ;) and this phrase was one I was taught in my computer class. It was used to explain that whatever you put into a computer is what you got out of a computer. 

Another phrase I awoke with rolling in my head is, "You are what you eat! If you eat fat greasy food, you'll become a fat greasy dude." This one is pretty obvious what it means! 

I have not hidden the fact that I have been through some difficult trauma in my life. I have not poured out all of the details, but I am vulnerable enough to strive to share some of my pain so that others may realize they are not alone. I have been in some scary dark places in my soul. I have been angry, I have not been nice, I hurt the last people in the world I want to hurt. I do not mean to, but because of wanting to do good, be good and fix my life, I have not been me. My need to fill my emptiness has taken over and become selfishness. Being selfish in a season to care and heal one's self is alright. But being selfish all the time to survive and live each and everyday is counterproductive to everything I desire to heal. Frankly, selfishness to fill loneliness creates bigger chasms and deeper loneliness. 

So then the pastor wakes up. Oh what a fool I have been. I cannot fix a thing. But I can impact what comes out of my life. Some of you may say that you have experienced the light and love of Jesus Christ. For that I give thanks and for that I realize God uses us in spite of us! Praise be to God. For others, you might be reading this saying, "I hope this is true because when you pull back the curtain he has been hiding behind it is most often not pretty." All I can offer to you in public for all the world to see is my authentic repentant heart knowing the fruits of what goes into it is what will come out! I covenant my best effort with God's help. It is all I have right now. I understand you must wait and see, but praise be to God. Thank you for walking with me. 

"You are what you eat" and "Garbage In - Garbage Out" in my life will be approached by allowing the Holy Spirit and personal discipline striving for holiness to prevail. Please, all of you be gentle and encouraging to me because I need you to be cheerleaders and Jesus in skin for me. I know I may stumble, but do not desire to fall and fail. Words can be empty, actions reinforce words and God will lead out of "The Valley of the Shadow of Death and I will fear no evil." 

“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” - Luke 6:43-49 NLT


“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” - Matthew 15:16-20 NLT


I know this is longer than normal! But it is the best Morning View in a long time......


I begin again, fresh and new. Jesus in, Jesus out. 

Peace,
PB

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