I hope that you have enjoyed Alan’s message on perceptions. Part two
will be available soon and he has just done a part three. I will keep
you posted and let you know when they are downloadable.

I have
recently come to the conclusion that life is not as easy as the “name
it and claim it” bunch attest—but neither is it as hard as we sometimes
make it. Truth is truth wherever you find it—in the Bible or written on
the wall at the bus station.

I read an old e-mail from a person
I used to know well and in it he had copied some written points from a
“what it means to be a success” kind of book. One of the points was
that most people who are sucessful are people who respect themselves
and don’t go looking for respect or validation from others—ie. if you
don’t respect yourself it is hard to have respect for someone else.

The
spiritual dynamic surrounding this concept is many-fold—if our parents
didn’t give us the validation and feelings of worth we felt we needed,
many of us in that boat are still looking for that acceptance in the
people we work with and fellowship with. To that end we may give
these people a lot more weight in our lives than perhaps they deserve to have.
We may even go as far as to perceive them as being someone they are not
in our need to have them like us or give us that feeling of belonging
that we are always looking for.

The bible tells me that I am
accepted in the beloved and I fully believe that—yet I have to wonder
sometimes why I have such a problem putting the pedal to the metal in
relation to that understanding. If my worth comes from God, why and I
still looking for some of it elsewhere?

As we move forward in
our life’s trip, the exploratory process that will move us on—though
painful at times—is not without mercy. We look, we find, we forgive, we
release and move on. The light of God has to hit the darkness that is
in us before we can see what is there and take the crowbar to it.

Sandi
and I are going to take some time out next week to attend the
Morningstar Worship and Warfare Conference in Charlotte. Todd Bentley
and Jason Upton will be there along with the Morningstar regulars. It
is a three day deal and I am sure that things are going to happen to
propel us even further into our unhindered future.

So what if
we didn’t get to go to New York this year—there obviously were other
things in mind for us. I can flow with that and New York will still be
there next year.