what I believe...and hold dear

The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed was written by the early Church and adopted (in a slightly different version) by the Church Council at Nicæa in AD 325 and appears in its present form by the Council at Chalcedon in AD 451. It has remained in use since that time. It is an essential part of the doctrine and liturgy of the Lutheran and Episcopal Churches. The Episcopal Church requires its usage at every Eucharist on Sundays and Major Feasts (except when the Apostles' Creed is used as the Baptismal Creed). The Lutheran Church gives the option of the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed, suggesting the Nicene Creed as the more festive or solemn of the two.

The Nicene Creed was thus not based upon the Apostles' Creed (which did not yet exist), but upon the baptismal creeds used in the churches in various places -- which were not all exactly the same, but were remarkably similar. The statements chosen at Nicea were carefully formulated to exclude the Arian heresy and the elaborations at I Constantinople (the Second Ecumenical), which brought the Nicene to its final form, were chosen to clarify the deity of the Holy Spirit and to exclude the Apollinarian and Marcellian heresies. This Creed, and that of Chalcedon, is the only creeds that came out of the Ecumenical Councils. The Nicene Creed is the Creed of Christendom, accepted by the Orthodox Church, by Rome, and by those aspects of Protestantism that are willing to accept creeds at all (text from various web sites).

Core Doctrine- One God

      We believe in one God,

            the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

Core Doctrine- Deity of Jesus Christ

      We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

            the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.

     

Core Doctrine- Atoning Work of Christ

            For us and for our salvation

                  He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary

                  and became truly human.

            For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried.

            On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

                  He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

            He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.

Core Doctrine- The Trinity

      We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

            who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

            We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

Core Doctrine- Salvation by Grace

            We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Core Doctrine- Bodily Resurrection

            We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen

my witness...

I follow Jesus, the Christ, acknowledging Him as my Lord and Savior.

As a consequence, I believe it is important to have a presence on the Web to tell you why I believe, the miracles my family and I have experienced firsthand and to Glorify God the Father who sent Jesus to rescue me.
 
In the coming weeks/months/years, I will share my experience, how He changed my life and why I would ask you to consider following Jesus as well.

Micah 6:8 "... And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

eye witness miracle...

My wife Cathie and I have been married over 30 years (spring 2002) and over the last couple years, we have found that we enjoy camping in remote areas that are considered primitive.  In April 2000, we were in the Arkansas Ozarks at such a location.  We had used a 4X4 to get to back to one of our favorite sites that over looks a small lake.

We had gotten there a little later than usual.  Storms were blowing in and we went about setting up the tents and equipment.  After an hour or so it started to rain.  Around 3:30pm in the afternoon, the rain was steady. Rather than being confined to our tents and area, we decided to hike around the lake looking for wildlife.  With our ponchos keeping us dry and comfortable we started looking for various tracks.  The rain picked up, which helped to muffle our sound, as well as our scent.  With the excellent cover we soon found a large group of deer making their way through the forest.  We followed the deer, keeping watch, seeing how close we could get without being noticed.  Once or twice we were detected and the deer would take off across the hills and we would move away and plot a course to intercept them.
 

Well, we lost track of time, playing “reindeer games”, when I had noticed it getting darker.  I thought it was part of the storm passing overhead, but realized too late that it night coming to the forest and not simply another dark cloud.   When we realized that we had overstayed our time, we reoriented ourselves to the lake.  The lake is 6 to 7 miles around its shoreline; we thought we were about half way.  Rain was continuing, and with the foliage overhead it was getting progressively darker.  The rain also made the rocks and forest floor on the side of the hills rather slippery, slowing our movement, as we picked our way around fallen trees, ravines, cliffs and other unknown objects in the dark.
 

 

We were struggling and getting frustrated in the dark.  At this point, Cathie was trailing me as we held hands to stabilize one another and to simply maintain connection in the dark.   As I recall, somewhere in that process Cathie said something about the next time we go on a hike we should start earlier.  It seemed to me to be one of those really helpful comments spoken at the wrong time, and I turned to make a smart remark that I probably would have regretted later.
 

As I turned to respond to Cathie I was able to see her face clearly.  I looked past her face and could see back from the direction we had come about 50 feet into the woods.  I stopped.  I looked to my left and could see about 10 feet off to my left.  I turned around and could now see about 70 feet in front of us into the forest.  I asked Cath if she could see what I thought I was seeing and she said yes.  We looked at our hands and could see some sort of the light reflecting off our hands.   There was no moon that night, no lightening with this heavy rainstorm and we were standing under the forest foliage, with this light around us.
 

Anyway, I was amazed.  I stood there thanking God, and turning, I asked my wife what we should do.  Sometimes I ask really stupid questions.  She wisely said we should keep going and try to find the trail and head toward our camp.  As we moved, the light moved with us.  We eventually found the trail and headed in the direction toward our campsite.  Every so often I stopped and looked around for the source of the light – I found none – yet it persisted.  My wife encouraged me to keep walking…
 

After 3 to 4 miles through the forest, we got back to our campsite, the light staying with us the whole time.  As soon as we got back to the site I grabbed the flashlight and in the moment I turned it on, it was the only light source in the dark.
 

You say nice story Rob, but I don’t believe you.

As I think about this story, I have a hard time believing me, but I have a problem.  My wife was there, and we both shared the same experience.  What do I do with that?
 

Application

I am reminded of my forest experience when I reflect on the challenges we face at work: 

• Issues of creativity, focus - strength to see a project task through to a completion, finding satisfaction in work.  Think about dealing with difficult people – isn’t that a dark night of the soul?
• It is so challenging to be nice to everyone, to acknowledge and celebration other folks’ efforts and victories.
• Think about tasks you can do here at work for which no one will ever know it was you that did that thing.  Isn’t that troubling – no credit or brownie points?
• On a grander scale we have projects like the Owasso Joint Venture, the Broken Arrow Hospital, or the PACMAN project.  They each in their own ways seem to be very dense forests.

 

By letting God come to work with us, He can provide insight, focus and inspiration, thinking way outside the box, circle, rhomboid, or the cubicle in which you live.  He helps us to look at issues differently.

With His help, we can move beyond the areas over which we feel we have control and step out into areas where our fear says we are at risk or have the most to lose.
 

I have a couple questions for you

Do you truly want God active you where you live & work?  Have you given Him permission to mess with your life?

• We have free will, or choice, and God will not come into an area He has not been invited.
• In Deuteronomy 31:7, He has promised to never leave or forsake me.
• In 2 Chronicles 15:2, God says “Seek Me and you will find Me”.
• In Matthew 7:7  Jesus says "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

 The other question is -  If you want Him active, are you willing to leave some preconceived ideas of religion at door?

• In our culture and world we are pretty smart people, proud.  We have defined God from our perspective and wisdom.  We have built complex religions with our little 3 pound brains.  We come from a Greek mind set that elevates the intellect and rational thought – a lot of good things come from that….
• The world didn’t recognize Jesus when He came the first time.  The best minds, the brightest people, only a couple thousand years ago.  He didn’t fit their definition of a Savior.  He was a lunatic, or a liar – cause He couldn’t possibly be their Lord.
• Much as Israel is the point of contention for the world today in all that is playing out, Jesus was and continues to be the stumbling block for those seeking to know God.  It all comes down to who you think Jesus is.

Want to leave you with this Challenge

Proverbs 3:5-6  (Be intentional - Ask God to be active in your life. Read through this a couple of times and then break apart.

 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and  (Seek Him, run after, pester Him, knock down the door, tackle Him, go after Him)

 

Lean not on your own understanding; (Have faith, use your mind and all your assets but don’t be limited by it, realize He doesn’t think like you or me and that is a very, very good thing)

 

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and  (Strive to be Obedient, ask Him for help to simply do the simple stuff, help me with first steps, celebrate God in everything you do)

 

He will make your paths straight.    (Lord please help me to see you when you show up in my life, help me recognize your solutions, Be expectant, know that collaboration with God in this life is the goal and the true mark of success)