A Poetry Book

In 2000 I spent a month living at an inner-city missions facility in Queens NY. Throughout this time Monday through Friday a group of us went throughout Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx giving food, faith, and hope to the impoverished hopeless masses in New York City. Some experiences I will never forget is playing cards with those on deaths door at the AIDS hospital, preaching in Mexican Town with a translator, taking sandwiches to those on the streets at midnight, the countless soup kitchens and coffee houses and making hundreds of children laugh as a clown on the streets in the Bronx.

Coming back to Michigan shortly thereafter, I enrolled in college and needed an income. Moved by the hand of God, in spirit, I searched online for any job openings. I simply typed in ‘youth” in the search. I went for the interview, got hired, and got trained as an Intervention Counselor in the city of Mount Clemens. This began my journey in the helping field. The field where you meet the hopeless, hurting; those people whom the devil has tried his best to destroy physically, emotional, spiritually, people the devil has attempted to devalue and dehumanize.  You meet them in hopes of undoing the devils work, in hopes of repairing, restoring, showing them their value, loving, and caring for those who have no one else; no one.

Over these past years, beginning in New York, I began to write poetry, both reflecting on situations, deflecting pain, empathizing with the hurt, and examining these effects on my life. Now these poems are together in an e-book recently published in the Kindle store.

megan

I am so impressed by how well megan did in college. She also scored the highest score on the state board test of any macomb graduate. She is very smart.

A Match to Light a Fire not to Burn Out

Just recently I finally watched a movie called Patton; about Gen. Patton. While it seems he was a pretty messed up character from the analysis of the character I am choosing to glean somethings from his life (i'm sure people don't use the word glean anymore in America anyway, do people still glean in fields?)

I recently put up a couple quotes in my office at work:
"better to fight for something than live for nothing"
"courage is fear holding on a minute longer"
"work harder than you think you can"
"do more than is required of you"

While it may be true that  (as some have told me) i am under paid and don't receive the recognition or reward for the work i do; this does not pave way to an apathetic or disgruntled outlook at my work. In fact if i worked in a retail store making minimum wage i would carry the same quote mentality with me; in fact encourage others to do the same. i would.

so i  remember a man once said to me while i was sitting in a large room. It was a room of about 300 people we were sitting down and he was on a stage talking and he said " young man stand up." i actually looked around me. He said "you there in the hat (i had a tigers hat on). i stood up and he said while pointing at me ," you are the match that is going to light the fire of thousands of young people" ;he said some other things as well. it's my choice to use those words as fuel or to disregard them. they are fuel. Another guy told me in a room of about 100 people; he pointed to me and quoted from the Bible saying, "saul has slain his thousands but David his ten thousands. you aren't going to be slaying people but you will be changing them". more fuel. Still another time a homeless man grabbed my hand and said to me one on one, "when you meet these young people look them in the eyes and give them hope."

i didnt make these things up, but maybe these things made me up. so i will burn until i "am utterly changed into fire".


(i just E-published my poems from over the past 10 years)

Teeth Dream

After eating a ton of pizza before bed last night I had a dream. I dreamt that I was in my parents house, their bathroom by the front door. My teeth started hurting and I looked in the mirror and felt my teeth with my hand. The bottom row on the left side came out in my hand as a set. There was a small amount of blood and some pain as well.  Since they were a set I tried to place them back in but the pain was to great so I held on to them. I was rinsing my mouth out and spitting out blood when out popped the top half of the back left side of my teeth, all in a set. These bleed a lot and I continued to rinse my mouth. When there was less blood coming out I looked up at the mirror and saw that without teeth that side of my face sagged in and it was extremely painful to put my too gums together. I must have been making some noise I thought ( I also thought I wonder if my gold cap fell out); because my younger brother and mother came in to see what was going on. I showed them my mouth with the missing teeth and my mother was horrified. I told her it didn't’ hurt that bad.  She said it was the redness and the bumps. I looked in the mirror and noticed that that side of my face was also missing, this exposed my missing teeth and gums as well as some muscles. At this point I said to y self, that’s enough. I woke up and my teeth on that side were very sore; I am certain I was grinding them.

Heath dream 3.26.2013

(any intrepertations welcome)

CareCare

Care is a word used to show a type of affection  or concern.  We tell people we care for them or we may even provide care for them, but what does it mean to care for someone.
There seem to be very few people who are not living for themselves.  Notice drivers,  notice yourself when you drive,  are they looking out for the benefit of other.  Just today I was cut off,  tailgated,  and flicked with cigerrate ashes.  I am guessing if each driver had my benefit in mind things would have been different. 
Let's try to live for others,  Jesus did.

12 Vainess

Well, I am at 12% body fat. It really isn't what I was hoping. 8?

the Office

My office

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There is therefore, now no conviction to those who are in Christ Jesus.... (did you notice this is a misquote?)

These are just some quotes from Leonard Ravenhill to think about.

The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising.


Today Christians spend more money on dog food than missions.


If I was to ask you tonight if you were saved? Do you say 'Yes, I am saved'. When? 'Oh so and so preached, I got baptized and...' Are you saved? What are you saved from, hell? Are you saved from bitterness? Are you saved from lust? Are you saved from cheating? Are you saved from lying? Are you saved from bad manners? Are you saved from rebellion against your parents? Come on, what are you saved from?

Today's church wants to be raptured from responsibility.


How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV?


Children can tell you what Channel 7 says, but not what Matthew 7 says.



Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!


The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.


The church is supposed to do what? To stop corruption? Is the church doing that? No! The world is corrupting the church!


I wish, in America, (that) we were as concerned about separation from church and sin as we are about separation between church and state. Church and sin-- it's a monstrous problem.


I'm sick to death of the so-called Christianity of our day. What's supernatural about it? When do people come out of the sanctuary awed and can't speak for an hour because God has been in glory there? Dear God, as soon as they get out, they're talking football, or sports or something or there's going to be a big sale downtown or somewhere. We are not caught up into eternity!

What are you going to do when you get to eternity, if you can't stick in an hour with God down here? In God's name, what are you going to do in a million year s in God's presence? Expect some reports from earth about football or something?

Unsubstantiated Miracle Part 3 and 4

As I continued to get better...

Part 3

The third item I read was God’s Medicine by Hagin as well. It’s starts with this verse:

My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. “(Proverbs 4:20-22) Sometimes we have to unlearn things before we can learn the right things. Our minds have been clouded up and filed up with a lot of things which are not really so. Unless people are going to give you the Word of God on a subject, you can’t listen to what they say. Don’t let HIS words depart from before your eyes. The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it! We have to get the word of God built into our spirits.  The bible says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. “

(Isaiah 53:5) “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. “

(James 1:17) Christ is the healer. Satan is the oppressor. Jesus healed all who were oppressed by the Devil. “The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”(John 10:10)

Part 4

Finally I picked up my copy of Bodily Healing and the Atonement by Dr. T. J. McCrossan; I had started this a couple years ago and never made it to the end. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to keep making life in these mortal bodies. Every sickness, disease, and deformity Christ cured while on Earth was the result of Satan’s work; and it is the same today. God is now constantly keeping life in our bodies. All Christians should expect God to heal their bodies today, because Christ died to atone for our sicknesses as well as for our sins. Christ is still preaching the gospel to the poor through his disciples. Christ is still healing the brokenhearted. Christ is still giving sight to the blind. Every miracle Christ performed while here in the flesh was performed by the power of the Spirit. We have the same spirit dwelling in us who raised Christ from the dead. Christ has redeemed us from the Curse of the law. All saints should expect God to heal their sickness today, because all sickness is the result of Satan’s work, when he introduced sin into this world, and Christ was manifested to destroy Satan’s works. Jesus came, died on the cross, rose again that He might destroy the works of the devil. He did. Christ died and rose to destroy the power of sickness. The very same faith which saves the soul, heals the body, and this faith is a gift of God. Every sick person does need a physician, and if he or she, for any reason, cannot exercise expectant faith in the promises of Christ, the Great Physician, then all such should send for a doctor. The joy of the Lord will be my strength.

So five days later I have a small tickle in my throat and a bit of a runny nose. Tomorrow I will be fine. It was time I needed to read and study the Word, to find answers to some questions, and to make up my mind not to get some quick anti-biotics when something goes wrong in my body. Of course I have no documentation to confirm any of this, but I did experience it.

Unsubstantiated Miracle Part 2

So as my self-diagnosed strep throat got better...

Part 2

Next I picked up  The Past Tense of God’s Word by Hagin. It’s a little booklet clearly explaining the things that God has done for us that we don’t need to strive for in our won strength. The gospel is a world-wide emancipation proclamation of liberty from service and bondage to the old tyrant master of sin and sickness the devil. We are free, but are we going to live it? Hope expects it sometime; faith takes it now! Everything that is in the past tense in the Word of God is God’s will for you. And I know that I am more than a conqueror in Christ. All of my needs are supplied according to his riches in glory. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: “(Galatians 3:13) Christ healed me in the past so I am healed today. “Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”(Mark 11:24)

So in many circumstances we do not visually see a change, we do not feel with our senses anything happening. Faith refuses to see anything contrary to what God’s word says. With the eyes of our spirit we can begin to behold supernatural, satisfying  lasting realities of God’s spiritual eternal kingdom. Faith is the evidence of things not seen; but it is evidence. God has already purchased healing. It’s our responsibility to accept it. God has already supplied all of our needs. It’s our responsibility to act like it is so. The devil has to run when he sees a Child of God who know who he is in Christ Jesus coming down the street, because he has already been defeated.

Unsubstantiated Miracle Part 1

Unsubstantiated Miracle

Part 1

On last Tuesday I noticed a bit of a scratch in my throat and thought it maybe was due to the house being a too dry or the woodstove letting off a little smoke. Well, it persisted on Wednesday and Thursday I found it a bit more irritating and I was becoming extremely tired at work. I took an Advil brand ibuprophen at work due to feeling achy. Friday morning I work up with a quite severely sore throat and aches all over my body. I gave work a call and told them “I was calling in”; I must’ve sounded pretty bad because the manager said, “sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well”. I didn’t tell him I wasn’t feeling well, but I wasn’t.

Using WebMD and my past experience I concluded that I did have strep throat, though I didn’t do a culture test. I had a severely red sore throat with all types of white spots and streaks in it. I had some post nasal drip, very achy bones and muscles, I’m sure at night I had fevers, but never did take my temperature. I felt generally weak. The first night I slept close to sixteen hours , and never any less than nine. Really I felt pretty miserable.

So I spent the next 4 days drinking tea with ginger and honey. I made some ginger, honey, xyilotal, lemon candy. I mixed up a apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, honey, and cayenne pepper drink once a day. Each day I took garlic, olive leaf, and apple cider vinegar tablets. On Friday and Saturday I also found some Naproxen Sodium that made eating much easier. We kept the house warm as well as keeping two humidifiers on. I’m sure all these measures were greatly appreciated by my body.

But I am also certain that my recovery was due to the fact that when I made a decision to not go to the doctor to be prescribed anti-biotics I picked up a few small books and my note book. I opened my notebook to the last page I had written on and scrawled on the top of the page was the quote “God’s word describes a reality.”

Starting with Kenneth Hagin’s Your Faith in God Will Work I read, By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear. (Hebrews 11:3) God had faith that his own words would come to pass. Jesus had faith that his own words would come to pass. I have faith that my own words will come to pass. And Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. (Mark 11:23) Every person born into the family of God has the same redemption. Consequently the same authority. Satan was conquered for me personally, who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: (Colossians 1:13-14)

Christ’s redemption is personal. Christ’s redemption is an absolute redemption from the dominion of the devil. Satan does not have dominion over us. Satan has no right to rule us with sin, sickness, or anything else that belongs to him. With each passage and idea from the Kingdom of God I could actually feel my faith growing in me and the infection waning.

“Having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. “(Colossians 2:15) Jesus stripped Satan of his authority over man. “Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) You and I have overcome the devil. In Christ, I conquered Satan, I stripped him of his authority and when Jesus arose from the dead, I arose with him! Phrases and verses like these I repeated until I felt they were getting into me, into my brain, into my soul, connecting with my spirit.

And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest: - but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:

(Ephesians 2:1-6)

1 John 5:12 says, “ He that has the son has life.” I have the son so I have life. I have God’s ability, because I have God’s nature. I have dwelling in me the same great, mighty, wonderful Spirit that raised Jesus from the Dead. John 4:4 says, Greater is he who is in me that He who is in the world. “Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. “(2 Corinthians 5:21) I am the righteousness of God. No one has any better standing with God than me. There is no reason I shouldn’t expect great things from God. I’m a new creature in Christ Jesus. I am a child of God. I am an heir of God. I am a joint-heir with Christ. I am the righteousness of God. No one has a better right to the name of Jesus than I do. Jesus declares that whatever I ask in His name, He will give it to me. The healing power of God is working in me. My faith in God works. In Christ I have overcome the Devil. In Christ I can stand in the father’s presence as though I had never committed a sin. With Christ I am joint heir to all of Heaven’s blessings and provisions. No one has a better right to use the name of Jesus than I do. When I exercise my faith in God, according to his word, I receive the results his word promises. My faith in God works.

Vainness like last year

So were now 18 days into P90X and 14 days into phase one of the Doug Kaufman diet. I've lost nearly 14 lbs and assume there are some muscles under my skin somewhere. On last check my body fat percent was 14%; the plan is to get it down to 8%. then I assume I will look like Justin Hartley.

Heroism happens when you make it happen

For the longest time I was watching Smallville. Not necessarily because it was  wonderfully written or amazing acted but perhaps because it is a coming of age story and more so that is is a story where so many people depend on a hero.

Truth be told we are all continuing a coming of age story daily. Though some of us believe we have arrived at what we call "adulthood" and no longer look to the moment when we will arrive. Daily I learn, change, grow, make decisions that not only vitally effect my life, but the lives of not quite countless (but they would be hard to count) others. There are so many moments where my decisions either make or break peoples motivation, aspiration, sometimes survival. I choose to not believe that acts are random or coincidental  but almost every moment happens for a reason; if not for a reason to an effect. 

Throughout my years of interacting with people with the goal of helping them in some form or another, there are often times where I see no positive effect. I, however, know that everyone needs a hero. I also know that that hero ultimately is Jesus Christ. If I can be the moment of hope for one person that is what I will do. I don't shoot burning fire from my eyes, but I do shoot the fiery love of God into peoples hearts. It only takes a moment.

Yesterday I was visited by a young man who I first met when he was fifteen years old. He was disrespectful to adults, dangerous to his peers, and unpredictable. There were times where I had to encourage him to not cuss out a peer, not ambush another with a lead pipe, or stop choking his girlfriend. Now he is 20. He told me simply that he wouldn't have made it (life) without me. He showed me his autobiography put to music on YouTube  It is not a nice story, not a pretty but it is his story of survival and keeping on. His Autobiography is actually pretty awful. But truth is he is here. I am not saying I saved him; I am saying I cared for him, never gave up on him, and prayed for him.

Thinking of where I grew up in China Twp., spending most of my childhood playing in the woods or working at the restaurant I can only think that I could have ended up anywhere, but where I am today.

A quote from Smallville's Braniac: "A hero is made in the moment, not from questioning the past or fearing what's to come."

Cigerrates and coffee

We were talking the other day about coffee, how people are offering others to get them a coffee while they are out. For a ling time coffee had crated an atmosphere of community with cafes an coffee houses.

But it appears that over the past couple years there has been a rise in both coffe drinkers and coffee accessibility. There Is a possiblity of a corrospondance between the outlawing of smoking in public places and this rise inn coffee.

I personable know several people who have either began drinking coffee or greatly increased their coffee consumption since this law passed in Michigan. Perhaps it is an exchange in a way of coping, perhaps it is a way of crating a healthier society, perhaps it is a way for the economy to make up loss sales in cigerattes. Wheezed the CSS is there seems to be some correspondence between a 6.00 pack of cigerates and a 6.00 cup of coffee.

Light, Life and Love Part 1 Mike and Sue

Lions club reaches out to homeless teens

Lions club reaches out to homeless teens: Lions club reaches out to homeless teens

5 of my personal interactions from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

PLEASE READ ONLY IF YOU ARE 17 OR OLDER

This nineteen year old girl comes in and says she needs to talk. she tells me that her boyfriend (who happens to be a 45 year old heroine addict) was drunk last night and threatened to cut off her head. He then kicked her out. She related that she is going to look for a different place to live  in a few weeks. I offered a few suggestions for immediately leaving him; she said she would think about it.

This twenty-three year old girl calls and says, " guess what happened?"
"What?", I say.
"My boyfriend (who happens to be a 38 year old guy addicted to prescription meds) beat me up, I have a black eye and bruises. "
"Where are you now?" I ask.
"I'm with another guy (who is a forty  year old guy who doesn't seem to be addicted to anything). I have my two kids with me." She asks for some paperwork to get into some housing program. I tell her to keep safe and that we will be here if she needs anything. She says she might be around today, maybe Tuesday.

I guy comes in who just turned 18. "Check this out, Heath." He pulls up his sleeve to reveal a homemade tattoo, crooked, and smeared reading "Blood B$ Damnation". I say something about making sure it doesn't get infected. He seems so stoked about how cool it is. He does live in a garage, doesn't work, hasn't quite finished high school yet; but he has a brand spanking new tattoo. After reminding him for a couple weeks, he turns in a job application. He asks if we want a PlayStation, he tells me he is like Robin Hood.

This other guy I haven't talked to in a while, but I've been thinking about him. He lives under a bridge nearby.  He's got a couch, end table, and some carpet. He works two part time jobs and has worked them for about six months. His dad just got hit by a car (that's what people are saying). He's got to be twenty-four by now. I just prayed for him.

Sometimes it seems like it might be nice to have a retail job. A place where people come in and buy things, you sell things, everyone says how are you; everyone responds with good, how are you. It really isn't that nice, but it is comforting knowing that not everyone is living on the edge of personal apocalypse. This guy said to me today, "i need to get one of these minute phones, lost mine yesterday. I have a phone holster for my belt and everything. I wasn't stretching or anything, it just seemed to fall out and by the end of the day it was gone. Well, that's my sad story; do you have one you want to share with me?" I told him about my cool coat that has a cellphone pocket that my phone never falls out of. He was buying a phone for 9.99 so we decided it would be a better deal for him to get the phone and use his holster instead of looking for a coat like mine.

This girl did the first concert where I work

A write up I found that describes a big part of my personality

Hero Complex

Repost from around this time last year.

Hollow een

Halloween
As an American I do not celebrate many holidays of other nations, mostly because they mean nothing to me; to American national heritage. Just as I would guess independence day isn't so well celebrated in England, the day the cardinals won the world series by the many teams they have beaten or the conquering of ethopia to musalinni by the ethopians.

Hypothetically...
Let's say you are a jew in hitlers Germany. The Nazis have sworn to destroy you and your kind. Let's say each year they celebrate the day they enrolled the hitler youth. Every year They celebrate this with dressing as Hitler youth with swastika badges and candy given to everyone. As a Jew who has watched the Nazis burn, cage and destroy your family and relatives, would you celebrate this day with them? It is just dressing up and enjoying candy; no harm done. but would you celebrate with your enemy? Would you celebrate separately from your enemy in a different fashion?

christians, we are in a war. Let's not join in celebrating a day that centers on our enemy, seemingly devised by our enemy. A day Certainly not promoting the love and life of our king. instead celebrate our king everyday.

P.s. If you have any left over candy send it my way.

Looking the other way

These thoughts are mostly directed at those who have the mind of Christ. If this doesn't make sense renew your mind.

We have all heard the great pressure when asked about the homeless we encounter; do you look the other way  pretend you are busy, hurry to do something else (that is if you encounter homeless). Most of us look the other way, not because we don't care, but because we care and don't think we can do enough (we simply do not have enough resources). Truth is whether it is expressed or not a simple conversation is valued. Even eye contact, anything but ignoring those in need, pretending they are not their may seem to make things easier, but in reality you feel it and they feel it. Next time you see someone wave to them, smile at them, or talk to them.

Now there are the other people we encounter. Those not homeless, but the people that don't seem to quite fit in. They may seem goofy, smelly, eccentric, or some perceived version of weird. We see them in the store, at the gas station, in restaurants; sometimes they are working some times they are consuming. Often we ignore them as well, or give them casual formatted, programmed responses. "how are you? "good" "whats happening?" "not much" Have a good one" . We try not to engage with them; it's either too much work, not worth our time, or just inconvenient (sometimes they don't want us to). Really most people want to be recognized for almost anything, whether it's just saying hello and giving a real answer or asking a real question or truly complimenting someone.

So these simple suggestions above that are not inherently wrong do a few things, but one of them is they create change. They change the people we encounter, they change us, they do in fact change the very world. Whatever it means, I have heard it said that Christians/ believers in Jesus should be "agents of change".  Well, i guess it means that as agents we have a job and that job is to change the world. The world was perfect, it was corrupted by sin, thus we have a law of entropy. Believers in Christ should be willing to change this law, they certainly are able. all things are breaking down to chaos to decay: human bodies, the governmental system, the food in the fridge, relationships, the roads, systems of thought and belief. But the Christian can change this, because they are a new creation in Christ, have the mind of Christ and the holy phantom within.

now what responsibility does the believer in Christ have to change the law of entropy/ the work of sin in this world in regards to their fellow believer?