back to the roots....

"Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and  the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
This is Jesus' promise to us, all we have to do is take that first step.

Names are very important to us, because once we name something or someone they enter into a new relationship with us. I have named my bass guitar, Pearl, (because, like the man in the bible, i went and sold "all" i had to acquire her) she is no longer a handmade signature model Gary Willis five string fretless, but Pearl with whom i have a special relationship. Other basses don't come close.
Adam was given the task of naming all of the animals. Have you ever tried to put that christmas chicken,( bought to specially fatten up, and which your children have named) into the pot.
Abram becomes Abraham and Jacob becomes Israel as each of them enter into a new relationship with God. And God, himself, finds that His people have changed His name as their knowledge of Him changes and increases.
It is our name that gives us an individuality and an identity. In todays world, with it's stress on financial success, can cause us to become too individual and rely on our own effort. Soon the one who created all we know and can see is pushed into the background and forgotten. "I knew you while you were still in the womb, and not a hair on your head falls without my noticing it." There is that special relationship again.

With my Prostate Cancer making an effort to re establish itself again, i noticed that more cases of cancer are being reported. Maybe i'm just sensitive to it. But this got me thinking.
Our bodies are a wonderful creation, i feel i am doubly blessed as i witnessed the birth of both of my two sons. It is a miracle, if you ever get the chance to be there when your own children are born grab that opportunity with both hands. What always amazes me is that a baby girl (sadly i only produced sons) is born with all she needs for her adult life, including a supply of eggs (to start her own family) . These eggs, which she will ovulate every 28 days, come into this world with her, they are not something she acquires later. "I knew you when you were still in the womb"

Our bodies also have within our DNA a chemical (not yet identified) which determines when we stop growing. Without it we would be like a tree, always growing and never stopping.
Our bodies are completely "rebuilt" on a seven year cycle, in effect we are "auto saved" on a seven year time frame. And like a computer file our "DNA file" can also be corrupted.
Let me explain. If during that seven year cycle we suffer some kind of trauma, be it emotional or physical, and this trauma remains unresolved at the end of the cycle, when we are "auto saved" that trauma is saved along as an attachment to our DNA file. Continued non resolution of this trauma could cause a corruption severe enough for the file not to be saved. In our case that would be death, but before that happens that corruption, i believe, can cause cancer.

How do we prevent this from happening? We need to resolve this issue by looking for/searching our past and identifying that root cause. It could be something that some one has said, and it has stayed with us gnawing away unnoticed, because we didn't want to acknowledge it's existence.We need to forgive ourselves and whoever we feel was responsible. We need a "clean DNA file" for that next auto save.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, of the old testament, believed that sickness was caused by sin and as such the person afflicted was unclean and couldn't be approached. Sin was not part of their lives.
This was in direct contrast to Jesus,with His hands on approach, He was filled with compassion. Where He saw sickness, He healed and where He saw sin, He forgave.
The Pharisee was too caught up in the niceties of the Law, to which Jesus has this to say: " But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,  you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

Jesus came into the world to set the record straight and lead us all back to His Abba Father. He died, on the cross for our sins and became Sin, in that moment He was separated, for the first time in His life, from His beloved Father: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ( Mt 27: 46 which is also the opening line from Ps 22: 1). A little while later as described in Jn 19: 30 we hear "It is finished...." This was the end of the task," your will, not mine....." that God had set him.
On His return from His Father, where He was welcomed back ( rather like the prodigal son), He gifted all those who truly believe in Him the Holy Spirit, with these instructions as described in Mt 10: 1 . "And He gave them (His disciples) authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
So we, as His followers, have this gift to heal. We only need to take that first step. But if it is to daunting a task,

go to your local church and ask them to pray for you. The beauty is that you do not have to be a member of that congregation, you only have to ask. "Ask and you will receive......"





I have called this image "the joy of dancing"
for we have much to be thankful for.......