Author: Higher Up IDEALS

  • Give Us Us Free!

    Originally posted on The Roofless Church: Let me begin this post by declaring that contrary to some beliefs, one person cannot speak for their entire race, group, or culture.  As we all know there are innumerable diversities at work in every individual and my comments with regard to the subject of race, religion, culture, or…

  • The Greatest Love of All

    Dedicated to the True Person of Whitney Houston If you’ve been hanging out here lately you might see a theme emerging.  But in case you aren’t catching on, here’s what’s going on.  I’ve been talking a lot about loving ourselves.  Why?  Well, I have come to the point where I think that our inability to…

  • This Is Bully Shift

    Love Your Enemies 27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to…

  • Belief as a Contextual Framework for Spiritual Application

    Originally posted on The Roofless Church: A few posts ago, I put up what I called “The Roofless Church’s Statement of Faith“.  In some ways what I wrote was an accurate account of how I would express my faith if I was forced to do so for some reason or the other. And in some…

  • Where Isn’t God?

    Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in…

  • The Threat of Equality

    Originally posted on The Roofless Church: Have you ever thought about how most religious ideas seem like common sense?But for some reason, they are hard as I don’t know what to live out?  I mean think about it.  Jesus’ whole message was pretty much “treat people the way you want to be treated” (Luke 6:31). …

  • Controlling Your Path, Part III

    This post does an excellent job at framing how we are sometimes influenced by other people’s fears.

  • Coming Out of the Dark…

    Somewhere in time there is a part of me that I visit frequently.  He is in a dark room and he feels alone.  He is living a lie.  He believes that he is separate from God and from everything else in life–the consummate individual.  Even though he knows that he can get up and walk…

  • Does God Care If I Lost My Keys?

    “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to…

  • Think What You Want to Think and Other Things Pastors Aren’t Supposed to Say

    As I said in the video, I feel like this blog was a long time coming.  Since I accepted the “call to ministry”, I have wrestled with different ways that I naturally express myself.  Here are four things that easily came out of my mouth that made me think I was unqualified for public ministry:…