Tag: salt

I ascend my staircase to be to closer to God when I really want to meditate and pray. But when I think about it¸ I feel foolish because God is within me as he is with all of us. But for somehow up in my loft I just feel closer all the way up there. But the truth is, like all human beings, I fool myself into believing that if I ascend to a lofty place, such as going to church into the chapel and get on my knees and light a candle, God will hear me better. He’ll listen to me. Because I’ve done an act of penance. What a line of bull!!!!

And having a doctorate in literature,  I really know how to sling the bull. What we have to do Is open our mind to the truth. And the truth is that we’ve really screwed things up. We don’t look at each other ss God wants us to. We look at each other with fear,  not with love. Are you going to hurt me? Are you going to take something from me? Are you richer than me? Or how about this one? Are you better looking than I am? How prissy?

That poor woman on the street corner with no legs and no teeth. Her Game? Waiting for a quarter, so that by the end of the day she can wheel herself to the local McDonald’s and buy a Happy Meal. I look at her and I wonder where Jesus is today. But in her mind, he’s sitting right in her lap as she eats her Happy meal. Because she triumphed. She was hungry and we have helped her. Can it be that simple? Yes. Jesus saved her for today.

Read the Bible closely. In between the miracles Jesus does very little. Except giving the people hope. And that’s a hell of a lot. Believe in them. Hope. He pulls them out of their dread of life. He brings them closer to God. The one true God. The one that works within them every day. The one that overlooks the destitute that they live in. And enriches their lives. I may be 82 and use a Walker. And may not be able to walk across the room without spinning like a carnival ride. But when I stop and think about the beauty of my life. And I wake up every morning. To God’s wonderful world. I couldn’t pray for anything better.

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

 We all wear labels throughout our lives.

My dad often called me stupid;

my coaches often called “my chunk.”

Neither were labels of respect!

That’s why I never, ever used terms

For kids of other cultures in school that

some of my friends used in private.

Then I became a Marine!

After which I became a retailer

worker with my father and mother

in their retail business; my label was a retailer.

And eventually became a teacher and then a professor!

I wore labels of great respect. And I wore labels of no respect.

I love all the labels I wore, and I hated all the labels I wore, because I always wanted a life without labels.

But now that I am retired, I realize

that this is possible only if we give up our desires

to be better than others. Give up the competition

that our parents and teachers have drilled into us since birth.

The competition that we are better than anybody else.

 

We are all children of God. Equal in God eyes. We must realize that there are no labels. We are all loved by God equally,

regardless of who we are or what we looked like.

Accepting a life without labels makes us humans living in God’s heart.

 

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

 

“Yahweh Tsuri-The Lord Is My Rock!” is one of the ancient Hebrew names of God. I recently wrote a reflection on whether I was worthy enough to refer to God as “ABBA,” the name Jesus used for God. I am not strong enough, or pure enough in my own mind, to call God Abba, but from my earliest religious Sunday school education, I am sure, no, I know that God, you are my way, my truth, and my life. No one has the power to change that. My relationship with my Father is too strong.

I know that life throws us many problems to face; I have stumbled over many, and with the help of a strong family, a super-loving wife, and my faith in a loving God, I have been able to surpass these problems and journey on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

I’m a practical person, so I do not believe in a return to Eden, but I do believe in a path to return to earth, God’s creation, to some semblance of rightful peace. Yet I fear that humankind is too enamored by its toys of warfare! I feel that I am blessed to believe that I can luxuriate on the final lines of Maya Angelou’s Poem, “On the Pulse of Morning”:

                              “The Rock cries out to us today,   

                                You may stand upon me,   

                                But do not hide your face.”

 ©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

 

 

 

If I read the Bible correctly, and accept the mythology as written, exactly, about, 2000 years ago, in the aught twenties, a vagabond man named Jesus wandered around the lands east of Jerusalem causing an awful lot of problems for the religious leaders of the times. He healed the sick and the lame, raised at least two from death, and forgave many from their sins. We call Him the Son of God; and He called God, Abba. And my question is: do we as sinners have the right to call God, Abba, as Jesus did? Jesus being the official Son of God, or Son of Man as He called himself.

I was raised in the mystic faith of Christian Science where we all we created as people who could heal as Jesus did, therefore, I deduced that we were all children of God, so I being a son of God could legitimately call God, Abba. When I moved to Virginia, my wife and I joined an Episcopal church, and I very quickly learned how much of a sinner I was to assume being an equal of Jesus. I was not allowed to take this liberty. I was not pure enough.

Being completely lost, I began a life-long study of Jesus and Christianity and have been turned around several times, led down blind allies, turned around, started over, questioned Jesus, questioned myself, never truly questioned God. My faith remained with me. There are two truths we can pull from history. Jesus preached and told many stories and parables promising that we are all children of God.

At the Council of Nicaea, to end all the bickering and arguing, Constantine finally called an end to it and demanded it be as it stood st that time; all agreed. And the structure of the church they created was similar to that of the military Constantine led. The exception being in names, instead of Lieutenants, Captains, and Majors led by the General, the church would be led by priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope. Just as strict a hierarchy.

I call God, Abba, because I believe I am a child of

God: because for the past dozen years, even though I have an undeniable strong Christian history, I have called myself a man of faith, faith in God, faith in Jesus. Faith in Abba! 

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

 

 

 

Sometimes I wonder whether or not what I’m thinking is rational. Christianity worships the Triune God. I find that to be repulsive at times. It’s more mythological than real. Do I believe in God? Absolutely! Yes! But there is only one God. God is the master of our creation, all creation. Why is it that we have to take something as important as God and bring Her (Him) down to our level of unimportance? If we believe what’s written in the Bible, and I understand that Bible was written by mankind for the purpose of mankind. It says in the Bible that God created man in his image. I am created in God’s image. Now if I think about that. I look in the mirror. Can I see an image of God? I don’t see God. I see an image of myself. A reflection. An imperfection. But not myself. Seeing myself is impossible. Because it’s not me. So, therefore. If I’m an image of God, I’m not seeing myself.

I have trained myself to see God in the faces of all whom I meet. This has changed my life. I am a happier and more sedate person, for I am not seeing evil; I am seeing contentment; I am seeing God’s perfection. Even when the person I meet is not a perfect human, I see God; I take her hand, or place my hand on his shoulder, while we are talking. We join together into each other’s sphere of friends or even families of love and understanding. We joke, se talk, we share! When we part, we part as friends; I always part with a simple blessing because we both have changed and become different people.

I grew up and matured in the life of the church. Two different denominations shaped my life, along with other factors that tried to influence how I should look at what life in the 20th century was supposed to mean; education, war, then the rush to earn money. And tucked in between all that, marriage, children, family, and the celebration of life in church. This was the life of the successful 20^th century man. Life, family, and church, all incorporated by the struggles to earn money. Because . . . . . Church and money ruled our world!

My mid-life struggle began in violence after a near-fatal auto accident, a pool full of teenagers, and a love of reading history. God spoke to me and led me into the world of education, and I became a high school teacher, where I began to learn what was really important in life. Let me rephrase that; I learned really was not important I life; it has taken me many years of searching to approach the fact that I still do not truly know the answer. But I did learn during my first year of teaching that it is impossible to teach anything to young minds anxious and begging to learn. As a high school history teacher, I tried to open their minds to allow them to think for themselves and not be shy about sharing their thoughts. I was a guide, a mentor, never a teacher. And oh! How they succeeded!!!!

Over my twenty-five years of being a mentor to students of all ages, (I returned to college to get a doctorate in literate and taught in a local community college, where my oldest student was 72)and all backgrounds, and all religions, I opened my minded to all cultures and learned more from them than they could possible have learned from me. To this day, I believe that we all were blessed by being together.

I have been blessed with a variety of students who have made me a better person. From valedictorian to football star to a boy with severe cerebral palsy, or an Iran war veteran with PTSD, or an immigrant who has difficulty with the English language. All have blessed me by making me a better person and allowing me to be called aa mentor in their lives.

I am honored with the knowledge all of my students have shared with me, and at age 82, I do not know how much more time God will give me to learn more about life and what is important.

What I have learned is that we are all made in God’s image.

 

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99