Rewired for the Journey

In this world, humans try to define themselves in many different ways. In America defining oneself is largely based on what you do for a living, how big an income you make. Some people define themselves by how famous they are, not enough to be known in your own country but you need to be known worldwide! What about those who want to define themselves by how much power they weld like in Congress or the Senate. In the end, does any of that truly define the true authentic you? I have seen presidents of companies that I know not to be satisfied with their life. They feel something is still missing. There are individuals who try to define themselves by the positions in clubs, fraternities, and other social groups only to find it not as satisfying or defining as they had hoped. When one allows a group to define them they are always at risk of being cut down by the group. If one allows their job to define them they risk getting fired. Or if power is going to define you then down the road

It all started when I was 20 years of age and I was cleaning out a closet and found a Book of Mormon. This was a copy with the gold Moroni angel on the front cover. I opened it up and it looked and read like the Holy Bible which scared me and I thought what a peculiar book. So later I asked the wife of my youth what was that book all about. She said her Dad was a Mormon and her Mom was but went back to being a Baptist.  A year later her Father invited us to come to church with him and his second wife and to discuss churches. After an interesting talk and visit to the church, he said he would have the missionaries come out and give us the eight lessons that they had. But I figured nothing else was working in my life I cannot lose trying out this new church. But I tell you that it was a whole lot of lifestyle changes. Throwing out all the booze, cigarettes, and other nefarious things in the trailer we started this new life. In the next few months, we lost all our party friends and di

I have spent half my life trying to be a good Christian man. I have tried doing that by living out western Christian religions such as Methodist, Mormon, Baptist, Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Evangelical Comunity Churches. When I could not live up to all their standards or believe in their particular doctrines I would get frustrated and find another church. People make fun of me and think I am crazy changing churches all the time but I was only trying to please Jesus by how I worshiped Him and by what church I was in. Jesus knows my heart. Now I am tired of the chase and I just want to enjoy my love of Jesus and have joy in my salvation. I hope that I can be more in tune with the Holy Spirit and just be filled with love and compassion and where grace is given grace is received. I want to just read and study the Holy Bible to learn and grow close to Jesus and not just so I can have an apologetic answer to everything to win an argument or convince someone of the truth of Jesus as S

Modern Christians no longer want to talk about sin. No longer want to talk about needing repentance. They no longer want to talk about God's wrath against sin. Because of this, we have an increase in Biblical illiteracy for only looking at one side of God's character you will get a distorted view. As painful or as uncomfortable as it may be we must look at the full nature of God to understand Him better and thus ourselves in the grand scheme of life. Do not shy away from our fallen nature nor that of God's true nature but learn about them and then you will better understand why we needed a Savior, why we need to repent, and why God has such a distaste for sin. Then we can more fully appreciate God's love. Zephaniah 1:12 New Living Translation (NLT) 12  “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners      to punish those who sit complacent in their sins. They think the  Lord  will do nothing to them,      either good or bad.

I'm getting dizzy... the room is spinning... I can't stand up... make it stop! The sensation of being off balance and you cannot get your bearings straight is physical vertigo.  But many people have a "spiritual vertigo" where they just can't seem to get direction in their spiritual lives. Just when they think they have found the right church the leadership changes and it is no longer a nice place to go worship. The church starts a campaign drive and expects you to give money you do not have to give.  Spiritual vertigo is when you are positive you are going to be a life long Lutheran, Anglican, or Presbyterian, you fill in the blank, and then find out the people are the chosen frozen! Better yet the deeper you study the doctrine of the particular faith tradition you chose you will find out you just cannot in good faith believe their hocus pocus doctrines! Yes, yes look before you leap... very good, very good. But it is very sad and discouraging when spiritual v

I realized that we as humans do not have to be incarcerated to be in prison. This thought crossed my mind as I was called this last week by my Aunt Reva who is 93 years old and told my cousins to get me over to her home to pray over her. So as I was sitting by her hospital bed in her room I performed the Last Rite from the Book of Common Prayer and added some of my own prayers along with the ancient ones with Holy Oil. I saw a woman who loved living life and loved people and was always on the go now she seemed trapped by her failing, human, aging body. She was imprisoned by her body and her eyes looked at me like she was saying, "Free me, oh free me, for the love of God free me. I want to get up and move around again and go places, please free me." At that moment I realized she was imprisoned. Soon She will be called home by the Father in Heaven where she will be young and free again and free forevermore. There are people imprisoned by their minds. Mental Illness imprisons m

Growing up I had an uncle who dressed up as a clown and drove this funny little car in parades but I never knew why just that he was proud of some group he was in that did this sort of thing. I always wanted to drive that car but he never would let me... sigh. But finally on September 22nd, 2010 after 40 years of waiting I got to drive that car and oh what fun it was and thank you, Cousin Shelly, for that opportunity. I grew up and started hearing about my uncle's group and that they did strange things behind closed doors? I was told all sorts of things about them like, you have to have a lot of money to be a member, they have sex parties in those buildings they call Lodges... naughty, naughty, it's a society of Satan worshipers and some of them do not even know it! The more degrees a member has the more power he has... gasp! They are working on taking over the world! I could go on but you get the picture. In the years of my twenties, thirties, and forties I was told by the c

This has been on my mind for quite a while and I have not addressed it because I do not like hurting peoples feelings but more and more heretical thinking is polluting the Christian faith and the worst part about it, it's coming from within Christianity from the so-called Progressive (Liberal) Christian.  Now understand I do not look at the Holy Bible in extreme literal ways nor am I against or hostile to science or philosophy. I also do not align with extreme dogmatism or legalism. But for centuries there have been very basic 101 beliefs that hold objective truth for all time and eternity within Christianity and they have been under attack for the last twenty-plus years. So the following is why I am not a Progressive (Liberal) Christian. Engraved in my heart with no apologies. 1. Progressives make Jesus out to be just a philosopher who was a peace activist. No, Jesus was not a Buddha figure.  Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. John 1:1, 14 / John 8:58 / John 20:28 / Colos

I started asking myself the question, "Why am I sitting here?" Sitting in church on Sunday morning. I have done this ritual for most of my life, but why? To feel like I pleased God by being there... well I hope it pleases God for sure but I sit and listen to clergy share their hermeneutics of the Holy Bible, philosophical thought, a political agenda tirade, or an unorthodox miss interpretation of Holy Scripture or all of the above. So why am I sitting here? Sometimes I just wish I was anywhere else but in the pew. So why am I sitting here? It is a frustrating and empty feeling. But there are Sundays the pastor has a message that uplifts me or convicts me to be a better Christian. What am I actually seeking when I am sitting in the church pew? That quiet moment when I feel the Holy Spirit whisper to me that I am part of something ancient and everlasting. The assurance that I am loved by Heavenly Father and Jesus's sacrifice for me was not in vain. I hear wisdom, guidance

My whole Christian life I have always fought my carnal nature against my spiritual nature. It has been frustrating at best. When I read the verse in 2 Corinthians 5:17 in the Holy Bible it says, " Therefore, if anyone  is  in Christ,  he is  a  new  creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become  new ." So many times I wonder if I am really new? What is new about me? I do not always feel new!  What makes it worse is when I read about other men and women who talk about being new since inviting Jesus into their life as Lord and Savior. Some go on to successful ministries and others go on to missions and bring many people to the knowledge of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Others go into the monastic life and write books and do great charity work and others write songs and sing for Jesus to praise Him. It makes me feel like I am missing something "new" in my walk with Jesus. I have been reading a book from Pastor Randy Frazee who pastors with

Who you believe Jesus is will dictate how Jesus works in your life. If you believe He is a great philosopher then He is not your Savior but just another guy with some cool ideas. If you believe He was a great teacher then He was another rabbi in a long list of rabbis. If you believe He is just another god among many gods then you have not believed what He said about Himself in the Holy Bible.  Nowadays many people and even churches want Jesus to be what they want Him to be and not who or what He is. But are we willing to accept who and what Jesus said about Himself? Are we willing to believe and not twist it? Are we willing to live by who Jesus really is? Can we accept Jesus on His terms and not ours? If we can accept Jesus on His terms then our faith in Him will wash our sins away and give us eternal life in Heaven. Now, who is Jesus? First, the Son of the Living God Yahweh and the second part of the Holy Trinity. Secondly, the Holy Savior of this world and the people who believe in

Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who was better on his computer. They had been going at it for days, and God was tired of hearing all of the bickering. Finally, God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test that will run two hours and I will judge who does the better job." So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They sent faxes. They sent e-mail. They sent out e-mail with attachments. They downloaded. They did some genealogy reports. They made cards. They did every known job. But ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, the rain poured and, of course, the electricity went off. Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld. Jesus just sighed. The electricity finally flickered back on and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming &

We all have different ways to communicate in this world and my best way is writing. Writing allows me to clearly articulate my thoughts and feelings and the way I see life. Could I ever be a famous author, columnist, or blogger I do not know but I do hope I can at least reach a few people with my craft as a wordsmith. I have wondered the last few weeks to myself, "Do I really have anything to say that has not been said?" Yet I have this burning inside that I must still write and some belief that I must be heard. Now is this ego or narcissism or simply a desire to try and make the world better by sharing what feels like inspiration from Heaven to share here back here on planet earth? Write and write I must and in so doing I hope to bless you the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read my posts. I have been thinking about the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and how sad and tragic that a human being can become so disco

Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road. Follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road... and off went Dorothy and Toto on a great adventure. What a classic and one we never get tired of to this day since it was released in 1939. I am on another road myself but it is filled with its own flying monkeys! I am following the road to Canterbury as did Robert E. Webber and C.S. Lewis. I have danced around with the Anglicans since 2011 and left the road one time to explore my childhood faith I grew up in which was the Methodist Church and that excursion took about five months to find I still felt something was missing. So another year back on the Canterbury road until I wandered off again to explore the Lutheran Church and took another excursion for a year but again found I was missing the smells and bells of the Anglicans. This time I noticed that the road had narrowed from a brick road to a dirt trail. There was a sign up ahead that said: "Instructions Post Next Mile.

The other day I was pouring birdseed into the bird feeder in the backyard of the Monastery and I then poured fresh water in the birdbath. I walked onto the deck and turned around and watched as a few timid sparrows started to land and eat their lunch. I felt like St. Francis of Assisi and then I felt the Holy Spirit's presence as I thought this is my area on earth to tend the garden. I felt it was my small way of helping my Heavenly Father look after the feathery creatures of this planet. My Dad used to tell me I would be the next Billy Graham (no pressure there!) but I have found what Mother Teresa said is so true at least in my life, " Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”   I have not done anything for the whole world to know who Richard Fleming Stutz is but within my reach, I have tried to love in my limited way as Christ did. I am humbled to realize that the Creator of the whole world does love me and knows me which in the end i

We have all known people, organizations, and even churches that are nothing but negative and hateful. We all have times of feeling negative for a bit. This is sometimes brought on by reading websites of both sides of the political spectrum and the venomous comments people leave, oh my! There are times when this is brought on by too much regular bad and depressing news on TV, radio, and print. Reading people's social media rants with thirty posts and tweets from other negative sources plastered on their Wall or Tweet Board to supposedly warn us of all the evil... "give me those ruby slippers and your little dog Toto too!" Sometimes this is brought on when we encounter people face to face and hear their toxic world and life view spit out all over us. We walk away feeling depressed and anxious... "lions and tigers and bears oh my!" So we put on our rose-colored glasses and all is well, right? Do we allow the oxidation of our souls by the world? See no evil, he

I have been studying the history of the Orthodox Church and at the same time studying Lutheran doctrine. It is amazing to me that the last official Ecumenical Council was in 787 A.D. and the church fathers were still debating on the nature of Jesus even though it was supposed to have been settled at The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. Now 1,227 years later the debate continues as you can see in the beliefs of each faith tradition. The Christology of some faith traditions leads them to believe Christ's death covered everyone without any recognition or act on the part of the individual or world. But other faith traditions believe an individual must acknowledge what Christ did on the cross for them. The views taken from both groups say this belief comes from their understanding of the Holy Bible and at times they will sight the very same verses of scripture to back up their claims. This can lead to high blood pressure. I could go into a lengthy dissertation but I am not teaching

Recently I have been thinking about faith and what is strong faith and what is weak faith. I get upset with myself when I feel my faith is weak but I now in the last month have come to a conclusion about faith and here it is...   " Faith is like the Aurora Borealis... ever-changing and evolving and a mystical beauty within the body of Christ."  So I realize I must not get upset with myself when I feel my faith weak but realize I will throughout my lifetime have a faith that will have times of strength and times of weakness. That is the reality of the human condition in a sin fallen world who chooses to have faith in Jesus Christ. But we as people of faith have some control over the length of time our faith is weak or strong.  I would venture to say that if we as a people of faith were to put in place the spiritual disciplines of praying daily and reading the Holy Bible on a daily basis would go a long way in helping keep our faith strong. Added to this a weekly church worshi