This is My Ever-Growing Manifesto

Rambling Journal Entry #160820:

One of the many evils that I did unto myself during my first 50 years of childhood was perpetually purposing to please everyone to gain their acceptance and inclusion.

North Dakota Democratic-NPL State Delegate Selection Meeting Stump Speech

Good afternoon, friends and fellow Dem-NPLers! What an exciting day and event for us Democrats of North Dakota!

Sunday night summarizing.

So last week was a really difficult week. We had Franklin Graham in Bismarck on Wednesday, we had Donald Trump in Bismarck on Thursday. Friday was troublesome.

Rambling Afternoon Journal Entry #160531

Rambling Afternoon Journal Entry #160531:
Just like 99.999999% of the complete human population, I have strong trust issues.

A Future to Believe In

What would the USA be like had Harriet Tubman quit her fight rescuing slaves?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What would the USA be like had Red Cloud quit his fight for Native American lands?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What would the USA be like had Susan B. Anthony quit her fight for women’s right to vote?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What would the USA be like had Unions quit their fight for better labor conditions?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What would the USA be like had Martin Luther King, Jr. quit his fight for black rights?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What would the USA be like had Dennis Banks and Russell Means quit their fight for the civil rights of Native Americans?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What would the USA be like had marriage activists quit their fight for marriage equality?
Would we have a future to believe in?

What will the USA be like if Bernie Sanders quit his fight for nomination?
Will we have a future to believe in?

Coupled or Untethered

Reminding myself of several reasons it is good/ok/normal to be single, untethered, unsupervised:

With Apologies to Dr. Seuss

I am Kevin

I am Sam
Sam I am

That Sam-I-am
That Sam-I-am!
I do not like
that Sam-I-am

Do you like
boobies and gam

Soul Alive

Sunday is long gone.

Tuesday is here present.

Gathering has dispersed.

Loneliness has appeared.

Lost in the shadows.

Grace always present.

Turn toward Him.

Soul alive.

Weeping whimpers

Weeping whimpers darken the shadows.
You have seen the shadows in the fog.
Hidden remains the darkness, locked.
You have heard the whimpers in the fog.
Silenced remains the weeping, stifled.
Stifle the fog, lock the fog.
Unseen and unheard,
Remains clamoring light,
Erasing shadows.

I don't know

I don't know. I have never been clinically diagnosed or stuff.

Out of Context...

2nd Chronicles 7:14 -- Out of Context... America is not God’s chosen nation or land. Americans are not God’s chosen people. America is nowhere to be found in this passage nor is any other nation besides Israel. We need to remember that not everything in the Bible is about us. The Bible is about God first and foremost.

http://pleaseconvinceme.com/2013/a-text-out-of-context-2-chronicles-714/

Letters to the Editor

A few "Letters to the Editor" I have written...

What are we do with those we consider to be different from us?

What are we do with those we consider to be different from us? How are we as followers of Christ supposed to interact with the marginalized that make us uncomfortable? How can our lives be a living example of His good news?

The Testimony -- Oct 11, 2015

On a warm March day in 1988, there I was, a young 22-year old adventurer, standing alone on a sidewalk under the San Diego sun waiting for a bus. The Navy had just terminated my short career in the military by giving me an honorable discharge, and two intimidating military police unceremoniously escorted me off the base. Riding the bus to the airport as a rebranded civilian, I was ruminating and wondering who I was, where I was from, where I was going. A new chapter was starting in a journey, which began on a small-grains farm in North Dakota.

I must be an ambivert...

Reading through those lists of characteristics of introverts and extroverts, I have smattering of each in my personality characteristics...

Never Have I Ever

Been asked on a second date
Been a groomsmen
Been a godfather
Been married
Known that I was flirted on
Been arrested for a crime
Seen Mount Rushmore
Seen a Bond movie
Written a song
Traveled to all fifty states
Parachuted
Bungee jumping
Roller bladed
Been asked for my number
Kissed a frog
Had a secret admirer
Taken a lie detector test
Received a blood transfusion
Walked in on my parents
Attended a worship service other than Christian

Open Book #150907

My Life is an Open Book Ramble #150907:
2011 - "Death" of an apartment, beginning in a new one. Rekindled a dark relationship with depression.
2012 - A sizeable chunk of old friends departed because of what I had become with depression and muck. Suicide came knocking several times. Invited in for visits a couple times.
2013 - A year with a few significant health traumas. Loneliness started courting me. Ended a thirty-plus-year dependent relationship with alcohol.
2014 - Living life without alcohol, emotions experienced life raw and not numbed. Continued the relationship with depression, and nurtured simultaneous relationships with social-anxiety and fear-of-life. Discovered a new church family who gave welcome.
2015 - Social-anxiety and fear-of-life began to grow into sizeable, controlling critters. Loneliness and I grew quite fond of each other. July was tough hearing the fundamentalist crowd chanting a war-cry against LGBT because of marriage equality.
Then August hit. Hard. A close friend kicked me out of town to go on vacation by myself. Alone. Lots of praying and thinking and wondering among those miles. Since that journey, dependence upon anxiety, fear of life, loneliness, muck, they have lost interest in me, and I in them.
The journey continues as I continue to purpose to live without them, without alcohol, without muck. I am grateful that God, his grace, mercies and mysteries have never left me, have never shook me off. I am glad for the old friends who have stayed. I am giddy with the new friends life has given me. I am going to be fine. It is not about me, but Christ in me.

Yeah, it is visiting again.

So, thoughts have been ruminating. I enjoy life on my own.

God is Still in Control

Same-sex attractions and love have been throughout the course of world history. Today, we have become a religion worshiping scripture heralding the exclamation of "But the Bible says, or does not say..." as the primary modus operandi in which to judge someone different than us.

Mother's Day Memories

You know, being a confirmed bachelor who has lived many places, traveled many miles, it really has been a grateful life with the dozens of doting Moms who have nurtured me.