Zen Christian

This is my life and I chose to believe in the greater Divine and live life happy. I choose to pass on happiness, be good to the Earth and others. I chose the path God puts me on; The adventure her gives me, good or bad. I choose to be Thankful.

[zenchristian]

Condemned? Forgiven? Loved.

Lets see. It's been a whole week since I picked up my book bag of peace. After my last post I was on fire. I went to my local Christian bookstore and bought myself a new devotional. The amazing thing that happened was my prayers were answered when I picked up the devotional I later bought. I'm not sure if I have mentioned in my blog my deepest struggle. This is my sexuality. I have mentioned that I am gay an engaged to a wonderful, kind, compassionate, beautiful, female. I am very happy with my relationship, and other people as well can see that I am happier than I ever have been. It is not my relationship itself that I struggle with, it is the {sin} that I struggle with. The bible makes it very clear that homosexuality is a sin. And I find that I often get on the train of this Awesome relationship with God and then get off when my sins look me in the face. Although the bible clearly says that we will be forgiven for our sins when we go to heaven, I can not move past the fact that I choose to live in sin. When I picked up this devotional I flipped to the devotional for the day and read to see if I liked it. Now keep in mind this isn't a devotional about a sinner, or about forgiveness, it is about drawing closer to a relationship with God, however the devotional for that day talked about Psalm 103:12 "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west" I was so excited and so moved that I buried myself in the bible for the rest of the day. You would think that I would read about forgiveness because that is what the devotional was about. No I read about how if your right eye sins rip it out bc it's better to be blind in one eye than go to hell as a sinner. Sheesh. It's safe to say I felt doomed. I still kind of feel doomed. But this morning I had a nice long talk with God. I came to the decision I would read my devotional for the first time since last week, and maybe stay away from the bible for a little. Then he spoke to me again, "don't stay away from the bible, but instead of reading about being condemned and doomed, read about being forgiven and read about my love for you. " Well sheesh. God is pretty awesome :) Cheers to getting back on the Jesus train.

[zenchristian]

Shine the Jesus SWAG

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come!”

So my last post I talked about having faith in Jesus. Having faith in his plan for you. Today I am going to talk about the step after accepting your faith. Accepting the narrow path. Accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for YOU.

You will change because of this decision; it is inevitable. There is nothing bland about Jesus. There is nothing just so- so about God. In fact read Matthew 5:13-16 ( one of my very favorite verses ) this verse God tells us to be the SALT seasoning that brings out the God flavors. He says that if we loose out saltiness we become useless and will be thrown out in the trash. Damn, that’s harsh; but the thing is, once you get your taste of Jesus, once you learn, see, and feel how wonderful and loving he is how could you keep something so wonderful to yourself? You must not! Share the good news! Shine! Look at you. Look at how you shine. Embrace your warm light! You see you are changing, and it is so beautiful! You have changed from a caterpillar to a butterfly :) you were born a caterpillar and roamed this earth while God cocooned us in his love, mercy, and grace and when we embraced those changes, and stepped out of the comfort of our little caterpillar ways we turned into a gorgeous butterfly, and once that caterpillar goes through the process of metamorphosis there is no going back to the caterpillar he once was.

When you accept that Jesus died for you, when he was up on that cross being poked and prodded he was thinking of YOU! When you accept that you receive the SWAG of Jesus! You need to wear your SWAG badge on your shoulder, because the WHOLE WORLD should know YOU were Saved With Amazing Grace!

Wear that SWAG badge, spread that salt, shine that light! Stand up on that hill and FLY!

[zenchristian]

[zenchristian]

Just added the tranquility healing bracelets to my shop! Go check them out CLICK HERE 

[thetaooflife]

One characteristic of a dharmic person, someone who practices meditation and the teachings of the Buddha, is to prevent too many activities, or you could say, reduce too many activities. According to tradition, that actually boils down to cutting nonfunctional talking, cutting the baby-sitter mentality, the entertainment mentality. You can get yourself into all kinds of projects, all kinds of engagements. You can become chummy with the world so that you don’t have to hold your discipline or your mindfulness properly. ….If you don’t like tea, you can have coffee. If you don’t like coffee, you could switch to Coca-Cola. If you don’t like Coca-Cola, you can drink scotch or vodka. You involve yourself in constant, constant activity. Sometimes you don’t even know what you are doing; you just come up with the idea that you need to be occupied with something, but you can’t put your finger on anything:” Do I need sex or do I need money or do I need clothes? What do I need?”….You could think about anything; the possibilities are infinite. Getting chummy with the situation involves lots of activity. According to the basic principles of Buddhism, you have to cut that down. When you become too chummy with your world, too familiar with your world, it becomes endless. _Chögyam Trungpa

(via thetaooflife)

[zenchristian]

[zenchristian]

Get in the Freakin' River!

So the other day I started reading my journal from my journey at Arise Church NZ. This was a tough decision for me but boy oh boy am I glad I did. Today I read the second and third sessions from Huge Camp 2012. It's pretty crazy how well they meshed together. Our father has plans for us. Plans to prosper us and not harm us. Plans to give us hope and a future ( read Jer 29:11-14) but before we receive the bounties of these plans we must step out of our comfort zone. We must have faith that God will protect us and provide for us100% we simply have to have faith in that. However, is "simply" the correct word to use? Sometimes faith is the hardest thing. Believing something you can not see can be so scary. We have doubt imbedded in us and that is okay. Did you know that Jesus' first miracle was created because his mother told him to (John 2:1-11). Jesus told his mother not to push him, he did not want to believe that it was his moment. But his mother knew it was his time, just like out heavily Father knows when it is ours. If we look at the book of Joshua and read these verses (1:2-3 ,3:4-5, 3:11-17) we see that God shows us that we need to step out of our comfort zone. When the priests who carried the ark stepped into the rushing Jordan river it instantly turned into dry land. We need to step away from yesterday and into tomorrow. We need to have faith that He will provide. God holds us close to him and hides us until we are ready for the next big thing. But he only ever hides us only to reveal us to our destiny. God will always provide us with what we can not provide for ourselves, but then he stopes providing when we can do it ourselves. You see God is always nurturing and weening like a caring mother. He doesn't stop providing because he stopped caring. My darlings it is quite the opposite. He stops providing because we have grown. He stops providing because he has seen our faith and our trust. He knows when he says move left we will hear and listen to him. We will be the example he wants us to be. So take the leap. Have faith that he will catch you if you aren't quite ready to fly. Get in the freakin' River! Have faith! He will only reward you for your faith, he will not allow you to face plant into the pavement. God will help you and walk beside you through this journey.

[thetaooflife]

“I see that people are getting busier and busier, more and more restless, I’m not criticizing material or technological development as such, but rather the uncontrolled mind. Because you don’t know who or what you are, you spend your life blindly grasping at what I call ‘supermarket goodness.’ You agitate your own life; you make yourself restless. Instead of integrating your life, you splinter it. Check up for yourself. I’m not putting you down. In fact, Buddhism doesn’t allow us to dogmatically put down anybody else’s way of life. All I’m trying to suggest is that you consider looking at things another way.”

(via thetaooflife)

[zenchristian]

Keep on Shinin'

So I opened this blog two days ago and since then more and more wonderful things have been happening. Not to mention that some pretty awesome stuff happened right before starting this blog. So I have a lot of stories to catch you up on. Heres one...

My Mother and I always talk about religion. She is the most spiritual person I know (as of now) and whenever we end a conversation we either A) are frustrated with each other or B) are enlighten by each other. 

Yesterday (and most days) was an enlightening kind of day with her. We talked about many things, but the conversation started taking a turn that to me seemed like "oh no this could be the turning point where we are frustrated after the conversation." I quickly brought that to her attention. 

" No, no, Alicia. I am so sorry if you feel attacked. What is your point of view? Share, I want to listen." She said with an open heart. 

I began to tell mom why I consider myself a Buddhist Christian, and while some Buddhists deitize buddha (Siddhartha) I chose to see God as the only God. I chose to live like a Christian and practice the loving teaching of both Jesus and Siddhartha. I explained that just like Christianity there any many different kinds of Buddhist people. It is a way of life.  A way of love and acceptance without judgement. A way to help others and be so so good to this earth and yourself. A way to stay calm and be thankful always for the opportunity to give back :) 

We spoke for a long period of time, long enough I can not remember the entire conversation and even if I did it would be too much to write out. 

My mother listened with an open heart like she so often does. 

She was enlightened by our conversation and how I can speak so clearly about something that seems so foggy for her to understand.  It made me feel so amazing that I can be such an example for the greater good. Person by person I am lighting a way to God. I am lighting my own path and lighting a path that others may be too scared to walk down alone. If everyone knows that I am here to help and here to be a voice of understanding, compassion, and motivation, I can be fulfilled with more joy than imaginable. 

Matthew 5:13-16 

The Message (MSG)

Salt and Light

13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

[zenchristian]

Lions on Lions on Lions

So after my scary dream the night before last I got into bed last night hesitant on wether I wanted to fall asleep or not. 

I prayed that God would watch over me while I slept and kept any uninvited guests out of my dreams. I thanked him for being so awesome and the opportunity I had to give yesterday. 

After reluctantly falling asleep I began to dream. 

Typically when I wake up in the mornings I remember one maybe two dreams, but this morning I remembered not one dream. I only remembered one aspect of every dream I had. 

Lions. 

in. Every. Dream. 

You see, the thing about Lions is simple for me. They are protectors. Big, huge, cuddly cats who tend to have a lot of dog traits as well. When I was overseas in New Zealand my Church played a clip from The Chronicles of Narnia. (Now if you don’t know the Chronicles of Narnia was written by C.S. Lewis, a Christian author.) In that moment, watching the scene end on the screen I realized that God, as big and scary as the concept may seem, really loves us and is the ultimate protector. From that day on I loved thinking of God as a big cuddly cat that would attack anything that tried to harm us. 

Last night my dreams were filled with Lions. In each dream there was a lion. In one of the dreams the lion was putting his face under water and smiling :) I like that :) 

God has a sense of humor, and if we allow it, he makes light of any situation :) and above all he loves and protects us. 

[zenchristian]

Interesting Encounter

So last night I had an interesting encounter. I created this blog and have been very excited about the opportunity to write about the fascinating things I encounter. Creating this blog I made a stand in my faith and made a stand in myself. Well, last night while I was tucked away in bed I had one an encounter that did not like my stand in faith. I, Well, have been hoping my whole life I wouldn’t have this encounter and I don’t want to go I to too much detail because I don’t want this to seem in any way like praise. I was visited by the unholy one. He tried to scare me and he did a damn good job at it. But he didn’t win. When I woke up, scared out of my whits, I prayed. Yup. I prayed. Jesus, please protect me. Please cover me in a shield of your white presence. Please only allow people who will come with good intentions and love. Jesus, please protect me. I prayed and then woke my fiancée up because I was still scared. I am human. I was born with fear, that will be something I will always hold with me. But if I can keep in the front of my mind that fear makes me stronger and teaches me things I couldn’t learn with a calm mind, I come out on top. he doesn’t win, I do. I am eternally thankful God has imbedded the instinct to pray right way. God is with us at all times and will go to the greatest lengths to protect us :)

[zenchristian]

A Little About Me

So here it is, all out on the table. I am no where near perfect. Thats what I like about myself. I never know exactly “what I want to do in lie,” but isn’t that beautiful. Some may say no, and thats okay. You see I live my life for me, and a few select people who are incredibly close to me. 

I make art. I like that art is imperfect.

I sing. Most of the time completely out of tune. I like the way my vocal chords feel. 

I dance. I like the way my body loses tension. 

I love. I like how it makes my heart feel. 

I play. I like how it makes my brain feel.

I meditate. I like learning who I am. 

You see I love how everything is imperfect. Just like me. God put us on this earth to each be examples to one another. My outlooks are similar to some but most of the time different to others. I am okay with that, because I know God loves me with my wacky thoughts. He loves my doubts. He loves my questions. God loves the way I love. God gave me a heart that for years I would say was “too big.” I was always getting hurt and always giving “too much,” but year after year I receive love in all different places. I have the chance to make a difference in peoples lives. I have the chance to help. Now I see why my heart must be so big.

I like that. It makes my soul happy. 

I am so thankful I was raised the way I was. I am so thankful for the love I received, the heart break I surrendered to, and the people, moments, places, and things I have lost. 

I am Strong. 

I am Weak.

I am a Warrior. 

I am Christian. 

I am Buddhist. 

I am a Believer.

I am a Lover. 

I am a Partner. 

I am Lesbian. 

I am Brave. 

I am Proud. 

I am Imperfect, but Perfect in the eye of the great Divine. 

I AM ME. 

I am Zen Christian.