OPEN MIKE FRIDAY: IT'S TIME TO GET YOUR WORSHIP ON

It's finally Friday kids, and 5 days to Christmas and 7 days until "Black Friday". Is it just me, or is there some kind of "ick" going on this holiday season? I am waiting for the "Shop Black Friday" cards. The toy stores are gearing up for an all day and all night event, just in case Santa needs to pit stop at their stores.  

So to combat the ick and the ensuing ooze, this is a special Open Mike for y'all, Christmas style.

 
 

GLAD TIDINGS!!!!!

This song is my favorite carol:

Who is Jamie Grace?
Jamie suffers from Tourette syndrome;

Grace began to have symptoms of  uncontrolled movements and sounds (tics) at 9 years old, and was eventually diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at the age of 11. She was given medication for the disease, but says that it caused her hair fall out and made her feel “like a zombie.” Her typically “bubbly” personally became more sullen and she lost her self confidence.When she was 14, her grandfather gave her a drum set. She learned to play the drums, as well as piano, guitar, banjo and the ukulele. And she started to sing again, something she had become reluctant to do when she started to have symptoms.
Music became a way to relieve stress. And she noticed that the tics were less frequent when she was singing or playing. After her hair fell out, God had a plan

Isn't that the way it is, (believe me, I know a thing or two about hair falling out) we have to lose something to gain some more, something better. The disease may not be cured, but the body is in a process of healing. Healing now in the body or healing out of the body. Something more is given so that we can bear it and prosper. 

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ROB BELL

So, who is Rob Bell? I had not heard of him, maybe in passing. But one Sunday I found myself listening to and dozing off, the recent BYU Easter Conference. One of the speakers was Brent Top. Who is he? He wrote a book called: "What's on the Other Side". A book that talks about life after death according to the scriptures, and he brings in some experiences of people who have had life after death events. He ask's the question: "What happens after we die?" This book is very popular in an underground kind of way. If there is one book on the shelf, then it's well worn from people who have thumbed through it, but it will be gone in 60 seconds if you blink. If you want to order it from anywhere, there is a waiting list. I bought it for my cousins who had recently lost their dad. I recently got it for my brother, whose first born son had died. He asked me what I could do to honor his son, and I told him that in a years time, I would gladly prepare the work needed for vicarious baptism and subsequent ordinances for him by proxy.

(PS I later saw Rob Bell on Oprah, so he must be somebody if he's vetted by Oprah)  

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BRENT TOP

So who is Rob Bell, that brother Top  gave him a shout out from his own pulpit, and quoted extensively from a book he had written called "Love Wins". Pastor Bell was forced to step down from his office as Pastor of the church he founded called "Mars Hill Church". The irony of the name of the Church was lost on the members. He sought to teach his congregation concerning death, but the congregation in suffering from "Cognitive Dissonance", branded him a heretic, a blasphemer, and worse a Universalist. So he wrote books about "What we say When we Talk about God", and "Love Wins"; concerning of all things God's justice and mercy and the plan of Salvation. Brother Bell and Brother Top have a lot in common. I would say that Pastor Bell could be an 'honorary member" of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS.But I have the impression that he is right where the Lord wants him to be, laboring for Zion.

Merry Christmas Everyone. So my Christmas wish is that we can take the essence of Christmas, which is Jesus Christ, and live like he did and do as he did for the following year. This isn't a Pollyanna wish. The "movement" now is to progress and to gather and to teach and to save. Think about it, take small steps, journal about it,make new friends. Talk to that someone that you've been "eyeballing" across the room for a while. It's just Hello people, who knows where it will lead. Mazel Tov