Jesus is . . . (Grace Note #8)

 

Jesus is . . .

(Grace Note #8)

By Gary L. Clendenon

(c) 2013, first published 11-12-14

Jesus is . . .

a real person, not a myth or a fairy tale.

a relationship, not a list of rules.

a body, not a building.

a revolution, not a religion.

He is . . .

Free will, not "Force".

Serenity, not anxiety.

"With us", not "out there...somewhere".

"For good", not like our real enemy.

He said . . . "I AM . . .

"The Bread of Life."

"The Good Shepherd."

"The Light of the World."

"The Way, The Truth, The Life."

He was, and is, and ever will be . . .

"All in All"

"King of Kings"

"Lord of Lords"

"First and Last", Beginning and . . .

. . . THE END.

God Stole My Car!!

 

God Stole my Car!!

(R.I.P. my Legacy!)

By Gary L. Clendenon

Original Post: April 8, 2020

I’ve been waiting for 3 weeks to share this story with you!

Three weeks ago yesterday, I discovered my car was stolen—my 1998 Subaru Legacy. Because this car was a gift from my father before he passed away, it had a special connection for me to remember my father. In the back part of the car, there was a deep dent which my dad strongly apologized to me for—something about a tool and he not getting along, which ironically turned out to be my cool reminder of him.

Then there’s the story of the car’s custom wheels. When he bought them, he was worried that I might think poorly of him for frivolously spending money that could have gone to the poor. I was a pretty zealous missionary when I was younger, I guess!

Ironically, I loved the wheels—a lot—and was really glad that he got them. After my dad passed, every time I saw those wheels or that dent, I smiled and was glad that they were there—a small reminder of the man I loved and called Dad.

Lately, though, I’ve been, well I guess if I’m being honest, I’ve been worrying because the Legacy was starting to come apart and break down and not work well. I was really worried because I didn’t have any money to make the so many needed repairs on this vehicle. And I needed repairs on this vehicle. And I certainly didn’t have enough money to buy a newer car! I had even begun to worry out loud to my Heavenly Father—not seeing “a way out” for me on this topic! Not to mention that I needed the car for my job which involves taking gentlemen places in my car!

Because of the Covid-19 virus, it was decided the 1st week of March it would be best for me not to work with the gentlemen I worked with until it was safe again. My car was stolen ten days later after I had just made a very important trip to my eye doctor. So, turns out I didn’t need a car anymore to work! First two weeks of March for me equaled: No Job and No Car!

When my car was stolen, I asked for prayers from my Facebook Family for my situation, not going into details and not sure how it would all turn out. Lately I’ve been intentioning to see things differently and not immediately judge everything as good or bad. I’ve been attempting to understand and believe that if my life is in GOD’s hand and everything is going to “work out for the best”, then whatever is happening or has happened to me has been “GOD-approved”. So, with that in mind, I hypothesized that this was GOD’s unique way of answering my prayers: By stealing my car!!

It just so happens that someone saw my post regarding my stolen car and they just happened to have an older car they were trying to get rid of. They were impressed several times that I might need a car, and when they saw my post on Facebook, that was their confirmation. Today, I picked up their old car and my new car! What a blessing!

Because I have car insurance, during this time, I was given a very nice, new, fun little rental car to use at my disposal, and after three weeks, my insurance said, per their policy, “your car that was stolen is now ours and we are going to send you money of equal value to purchase the same car you lost.” I had looked up the value of my Subaru Legacy on Kelly Blue Book, and based on that did not have very high expectations for what I would receive. Boy howdy, was I very nicely surprised when my insurance company told me they had valued the Legacy at about twice the amount that I had seen and they would be sending that amount of money to my bank account! Wow! I am blessed!

I share this story with you to bring you hope. Three weeks ago I felt hopeless and now my prayers have been answered in the best possible ways—ways that I did not even imagine could be! Nothing is too small for our GOD! You may not see any light at the end of your tunnel, but hang in there and trust that your Heavenly Father’s plans are “for your good” and will work out “for the best”!

So, ya, GOD STOLE MY CAR, and I’m praising Him—with a mischievous grin—for doing it!

“Leader of the Band” (A Song I Re-wrote)

 “Leader of the Band” (A Song I Re-wrote)

Leader of the Band

Original Words and Music by Dan Fogelberg

Adapted by Gary Clendenon © 2002

Here is a video you can listen to while you sing these words!

He came a child alone and wild, a cabinet maker's son

His hands were meant for different work

And His heart was known to none.

He left his home and went His lone and solitary way

And He gave to me a gift I know I never can repay.

Quite a man of wisdom, denied a simpler fate

He tried to be a carpenter but His calling wouldn't wait.

He earned his love through discipling, a thund'ring velvet hand

His gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand.

Chorus:

The Leader of the Band inspires though His eyes are growing old

But His blood runs through my instrument and His song is in my soul.

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the Man

I'm just a living legacy to the Leader of the Band

Others' lives are different for they hear another call

Some runnin’ to and fro, others don’t care at all.

I'm followin’ the Leader—He told me to “Go tell” so

I’m living out this life I chose and come to know so well.

Musical Interlude:

I thank You for the music and your stories on the road.

I thank you for the freedom when it came your time to go.

I thank you for your kindness and the times when you get tough

And Jesus I don't think I’ve said "I love you" near enough.

Chorus:

The Leader of the Band inspires though His eyes are growing old

But His blood runs through my instrument and His song is in my soul.

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the Man

I'm just a living legacy to the Leader of the Band

I am a living legacy to the Leader of the Band

"Surrounded" (A Poem)

“Surrounded”

By Gary L. Clendenon

(c) 1995

If “every spire of springing grass” says,

“GOD IS LOVE.” (1)

Then, surrounded by a million zillion

Divine Valentines

WOW!!!

Why would we ever worry?

Or doubt?

Or fear?

Or be

Unhappy?

1. Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 10.

"Close to You!" (Grace Note #78)

 

"Close to You!" (Grace Note #78)

Jeremiah 13, adapted by Gary L. Clendenon, December 12, 2019

GOD came to me and said, “Go and buy a new pair of underwear. Put it on, next to your body beneath your clothes, then wear it for a while without washing it.” So, I bought a new pair of underwear and put it on.

Then GOD spoke to me again: “Take off the underwear you bought and have been wearing and take it straight to the Euphrates river. Then, hide the underwear in a crack between some large rocks.” So I did what GOD said.

After some time had passed, GOD said to me: “Go back to the Euphrates and get the underwear I asked you to hide there.” When I went back and dug out the underwear from the place where I’d hidden it, I found it had begun to rot. This garment that was once new and clean was now completely worthless.

Then the word of GOD came to me to drive home His point: “In the same way I will ruin the stubborn pride of Judah and Jerusalem. Instead of listening to me, they do whatever they want—even worshiping other gods! They will end up like this rotten underwear in your hands—completely worthless!”

“Just as underwear clings to a person’s waist, so did I, the Eternal One, make Israel and Judah to cling tightly to Me. They were to be My people, known by all, bringing honor and glory to My name. That was My plan for them, but they did not listen.”

MORAL OF THE STORY: The Infinite, All-powerful GOD wants to be “Close to You”*. In fact, so close that GOD gave Jeremiah this very intimate, personal parable to visually illustrate just how close! There is nothing closer to us than our underwear, and this story is proof that GOD wants us to remember every morning when we put on our underwear—and snap them snug—that that’s just how close GOD wants to be with us!

*I’m pretty sure that that’s GOD singing to us through Karen Carpenter.  (Click Here for the Carpenters "Close to You")

Why Personality Matters!

 

“Why Personality Matters!”

By Gary L. Clendenon

January 8, 2019

“What we've got here is failure to communicate!” ~ Cool Hand Luke

Yesterday, I was involved in a Facebook discussion which revolved around the saying: People’s reactions say more about them than about the people to whom they’re reacting. This idea got stuck in my mind and I thought about it all night long, then awoke early in the morning with the following realization. This statement is not just a way to dismiss someone who is responding in a way we don’t understand or find offensive or inappropriate, but this statement is so literally true that a whole field of psychology is based exclusively on this one statement!!

We know this branch of psychology by the name “Personality Theory”. And, it is completely based on studying the unique and completely different way that individuals respond to the same stimulus! The more thorough of the tests that quantify the unique way we each individually respond have divided the respondents into 16 different different categories based on their observations of how specifically people respond differently! (One of the tests is even called 16PF (PF standing for “Personality Factors”)).

What this means is that psychologists have learned and determined over the years of studying and quantifying what “Personality” means that each of us responds uniquely and differently than 94% of the rest of the population. Also, that means that there are ONLY 16% of the population that will respond in a somewhat similar fashion to how we uniquely respond! Is it any wonder that we people have so many miscommunications and misunderstandings? Naturally, given the commonality of these challenges, psychologists have created a name for these consistent occurrences: “personality conflicts”.

I am an INFP personality, according to the famous “Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator” (MBTI) personality test. This means that I am uniquely wired to ponder deeply these ideas and try to make sense of them. All my life I have operated out of this perspective, but I wasn’t able to understand myself very well until I discovered and studied psychology and personality. And when I did, I was able to find acceptance of my unique self—before then I thought maybe I was crazy! (Personal Note: I was so driven to understand myself and others that I ended up with a minor in Psychology.)

This understanding of Personality Theory completely revolutionized and changed my life. It gave me the answers I was constantly looking for in striving to understand myself and others. Besides, the obvious primacy of the Spirit of Love in our hearts, I believe this understanding is critical for us as humans to understand and get along with the huge challenges that our unique and different personalities create! I believe the complete lack of the understanding of personality in our society today is one of the main factors explaining why we have so much confusion, misunderstanding, and completely lack of tolerance and empathy!

Having said all that, and realizing that I only represent 16% of the population’s perspective, I am aware that my perspective may not be the “be-all end-all” and I acknowledge that there are other perspectives and tools out there to understand and utilize in our journeys and attempts to understand ourselves and others. (Here is one example: https://hbr.org/2014/05/most-work-conflicts-arent-due-to-personality)

I guess my main point, then, would be for all of us to take the time to make our best efforts in the Spirit of Love to do whatever it takes to learn to understand ourselves and others better so that we can communicate better and get along better, thus making the world a better, less-caustic place. That is my objective and strong desire for myself and my world. I hope it is yours as well.