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"Try to look for God's leading in all your personal relationships, in all your dealings with other persons. God will help you to take care of all your relationships with people, if you are willing to let Him guide you, so long as you are willing to change accordingly. 'Rejoice, knowing that God can protect you and keep you from temptation and failure. God can protect you in all situations during the day, if you will rely on His strength and go forward. You should feel that you are entering upon the stage of a new life in the proper way of living. You should not doubt that better things are ahead for you. Go forward unafraid because you feel deeply safe under God's protection."
'And to know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit shall help bring this to be...here in the now.'
"I have come to learn and to know only through striving for spiritual harmony will this to be hopefully achieved, and it requires perseverance...daily.
"Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving—which is every one of us." 'Without a right relationship with God, our relationships with others will not be right, either. The cause of the world’s problems is that man needs to be reconciled to God. We will never love our neighbor as ourselves if we do not first love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. All of man’s best efforts toward world peace will fail as long as men are living in rebellion against God.'
"Each of a sound mind has the right to choose to accept guidance
of the Holy Spirit, or to ignore this gift and trudge alone on their own often misguided path. Let us hope to choose wisely...here in the now."
"Our natural bent and direction is toward the desires of the flesh. The orientation of
our hearts in learning to receive and reciprocate God’s love takes practice.
“To be conformed to the image of His Son is not only to think God's thoughts after him but
to desire what God desires. That requires the recalibration of our heart-habits and the recapturing
of our imagination, which happens when God's Word becomes the orienting center of our social imaginary, shaping our very perception of things before we even think about them.”
"Acceptance of truth. And this shall rest upon the one in the mirror."
And one's conscious never leaves, it has to be confronted with honesty, otherwise, peace and wellbeing may not be known!
"And, I have learned here is where spiritual discipline being of
great significance in striving not to get caught up in worldly distractions, and there are many disturbing distractions being witnessed!
'An inner peace and wellbeing are not compatible with things 'outside' the spiritual realm of Christ our Lord and attempting to interweave worldly thoughts of things pertaining to God, most likely will lead to distractions.
' There must be a reasoning the inspired words have put forth so much about the concept of in spirit and truth.
'Our spirit is the core of who we are. It is the center of our volition and our emotions. It must be understood that God is a spiritual being. To worship in spirit, then, is to do something that is beyond the physical. And worship is not by simply bowing our knees; we worship through a heart posture (Psalm 51:17).
"And, I have learned here is where spiritual discipline being of
great significance in striving not to get caught up in worldly distractions, and there are many disturbing distractions being witnessed!
'An inner peace and wellbeing are not compatible with things 'outside' the spiritual realm of Christ our Lord and attempting to interweave worldly thoughts of things pertaining to God, most likely will lead to distractions.
' There must be a reasoning the inspired words have put forth so much about the concept of in spirit and truth.
'Our spirit is the core of who we are. It is the center of our volition and our emotions. It must be understood that God is a spiritual being. To worship in spirit, then, is to do something that is beyond the physical. And worship is not by simply bowing our knees; we worship through a heart posture (Psalm 51:17).
(This content is for informational use and is not a substitute for 'spiritual' advice. Be sure to do your own careful 'inventory' before taking action based on anything you find in this content." Intended solely as informative and subjects to reflect on.)
"Spiritual discipline should never be taken lightly, for here
rest the ability to come to know of a peace and wellbeing that
cannot be experienced any other way...here in the now."
"Intellectual academic knowledge of lessons read, become of value when an honest commitment is acted upon in the practice of lessons read. Failure to do so, lessons become no lessons of value...here in the now."
'Spiritual preparation, here in the now...many there are that don't
fully grasp the profound significance of the eternal spirit life...and it is
not according to what the worldly man-mind has gone to great length and wit to conjure up... of great foolishness and falseness which abounds with the worldly man-mind.'
'Great disappointments have been foretold of.... a probability of happening even...here in the now. And time is left no more to refocus on one's own spiritual...'wellbeing'...'here in the now.'
(Be sure to do your own careful 'inventory' before taking action based on anything you find in this content.
Intended solely as informative and subjects of 'Reflections of Life'...'This side of the glass'...'I saw the Light'.)
'Spiritual faith being an inward expression of a personal nature, of an existence before God amid the created world. The human spirit being grasped, sustained and transformed and influenced by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, allowing a communion that arrives as a gift.
'Spiritual disciplines are habits, practices, and experiences that are designed to develop, grow, and strengthen certain qualities of spirit, character, and inner life.
'And the practices that a believer does so as to grow spiritually in Christ and to build their relationship with Him. They are the product of a bond between divine and human initiative, and they serve as means of grace that bring our personalities under the lordship of Christ and the control of the Spirit. They also enable us to grow to spiritual maturity and to appropriate the power of God's love...here in the now.'
"My spiritual wellbeing is strengthened each day through the sharing of this love of God's love. There are no words to describe the inner motivation of putting forth words of thought that are inspired through the influence of the Holy Spirit as guidance...here in the now.
'And therefore, this heart seldom searches out random 'scripture' for the sake of attempting to outsource the 'inspired' wisdom...and the wisdom being far greater than anything offered through worldly intellectual dialog...here in the now."
“WAHOO! WELCOME TO THE WAHOOS STADIUM!” That’s what he’d always say.
Josh Parr’s wheelchair sat parked at the top of the stairs where he greeted all ticket holders with a high-five and a corny joke. He was the first person you saw when you entered Blue Wahoo ballpark.
“He was our front gate guy,” said his employer, Donna Kirby. “He was the guy who always shouted “WAHOO! WELCOME TO THE WAHOOS!”
“Josh was a people magnet,” said another friend. “He was made for this job.”
For the unbaptized, the Pensacola Blue Wahoo's are a Minor League team. They’re a good ball club, consistently at the top of the Southern League.
This year, for example, the Wahoo's outrank the Biloxi Shuckers, the Montgomery Biscuits, and the poor Mississippi Braves who are—God love them—sucking pond water.
Josh was an ardent Blue Wahoo's fan. When he got a job at Blue Wahoo's Stadium, it was like winning the lottery for him.
And he was good at his job.
“Not just anyone can be a greeter,” said Josh’s supervisor, Mike Fitzpatrick. “It takes real personality to do what he did. He was a master.”
“Everyone wanted their selfie with him,” said another coworker. “The fans all stood in line to talk to him.”
On game nights, there he’d be. Sitting at the gate. Rolling his chair to and fro. Dolling out belly laughs and hugs and corny jokes.
One coworker remembers: “The first time I heard him say, ‘WAHOO! WELCOME TO THE WAHOOS!’ I just smiled all over. Because he made this job really fun.”
Josh Aidan Parr. Twenty-one years young. He was born with cerebral palsy. His mother had addictions while he was in the womb, which interrupted his brain development and led to lifelong muscular difficulties.
His youth was not easy. Throughout boyhood, his mother was unstable. Times were hard. Money did not grow on trees. His mother died by suicide when he was a boy.
But somehow, Josh was the happiest kid anyone knew. People who have suffered less have crumbled. But somehow Josh Parr remained cheerful.
He had hundreds of friends. His faith was marrow deep. And whenever First Baptist of Cantonment unlocked the doors, he was there. He was in the choir. He helped in Sunday school. He sang for services. Sometimes, he even sang for games.
“Whenever he sang at our game,” said one coworker, “the crowd went wild, because he had an incredible voice.”
And, oh yeah, Josh prayed for people.
“Every Tuesday,” remembers one of his friends, “Josh’s grandmother would help him organize a phone tree from the church directory, and he’d call every person in church.”
Every single person.
Josh would call hundreds of church members and ask whether they needed prayer. And if anyone needed help, Josh would pray for them right there on the phone.
“I remember when he called us,” says one of Josh’s friends. “My husband answered the phone after we had just left the pediatrician, because my son had a softball sized lump on his neck.
“The pediatrician had just sent us to imaging for scans and blood tests, my husband and I were panicked, but Josh’s Tuesday prayer calmed us immediately. I will never forget when he prayed for us that day. He prayed for so many people when they needed it the most.”
Last Wednesday, Josh Parr was found in his bedroom. His grandmother found him lying on his bed, dressed in a Wahoo's uniform. Ready for work. When his grandmother tried to wake him, Josh was unresponsive.
And the world lost a good man.
“I went to the top of the stairs that game,” said his supervisor, “and Josh wasn’t there. Our staff cried. I cried. Everyone cried. Our family suffered a loss. This ballpark is not the same without him.”
But make no mistake. Josh’s friends aren’t crying tears of sorrow. They are bittersweet tears of delectation.
Because a few days ago, Josh Parr did not die. Instead, Josh woke up in a new place. A holy place. He was no longer in a wheelchair. He was using his legs. He was whole. He wore his Wahoo's uniform. And a patented smile.
And as he walked through the cumulus sea, trodding on gilded sidewalks, he reached the top of the stairs, much like the ballpark where he once worked.
There was someone there, waiting for him. Someone famous. A greeter of sorts.
“Wahoo,” said the greeter. “Welcome to Heaven.”
“Wahoo,” said Josh.
Wahoo.
'God is not a being...God is a state of being, within self.'
"Thank You Lord for this day. "I pray of a spiritual revelation of reality to come upon the lives of those that are stumbling around in a darkness of worldly imagination, and worldly illusions. I pray of a spiritual 'awakening' to fill hearts of stone."
'Amen'
'Praise God'
