My Daily Life and Thoughts while in San Diego |
List of Best Posts
This blog is where I express myself to the world or at least to those who might stop by to read what I post 
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers.
I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!
Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers. I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me
)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
My blindness and how the Lord is using the Body to help me see!
This morning a friend of mine took me out to breakfast and got together with me to fellowship and I was reminded through our time of how the Lord uses the Body to help each of us become more like Christ.
One of my strong points is that I know the Bible quite well. I can discuss doctrinal issues with the best of them. Partly because of that solid Christian foundation and perhaps because there may be some spiritual gift of some sorts regarding discernment in there somewhere too...little gets by me with respect to my being able to see and discern wrong thinking regarding spiritual things.
I am usually able to quickly discern whether something is biblical or not.
All well and good (assuming I do not in fact have an overly exalted view of my spiritual discernment of course which is always a possibility).
But...with all that spiritual discernment and bible knowledge, coupled with my ability to communicate through the written word quite well, there remains in me a most pervasive and unending blind spot.
Where I am completely blind to it. I do not even see the spiritual pitfall that I stumble over. I literally do not see it.
And that blind spot is this...
I have a tendency to hone in so quickly and so clearly into wrong thinking on the part of another and can bring to bear perfect verses to help another "see" what they do not see...that without even realizing it I often end up blowing somebody away. Beating them over the head with spiritual truth.
When the inevitable tends to happen and they go away I see it as "hardness" of heart! Can you believe that?! That's how blind I am!
While I see myself as standing up for the faith and possibly being used by God to knock some spiritual sense into someone else...the truth is that God is not in the business of knocking spiritual truth into anyone. If people are willing to hear He can work with them but if they are not, God Himself does not go about using His Word as a sledgehammer to beat some sense into anyone.
And I shouldn't either.
But I do and don't even realize that I do, when I do.
And therein lies my blind splot.
Not that this happens all the time mind you. By God's grace and mercy there are times when I am able to share truth without beating others over the head with it. But it happens far more often than it should. Especially in close relationships.
Like a blind spot on a car...I simply and completely do not see what I may be doing to someone and how love, the greatest doctrine, can end up being trampled upon by me beating somebody over the head with spiritual truth.
Truth, even real truth, if not shared in love can end up causing someone to be uneccessarily turned off to God.
It's even hard for me to speak about this in such a way that what I should be doing is clear.
Because I am talking about a blind spot.
There is a danger that I could go the other way in not being pursuasive regarding the things of God when I should be and just becoming this milktoast Christian who is afraid to say anything at all.
But it is clearly evident that I often tend to blow others away by honing in and sticking to something that someone should be convinced about, like a dog with his bone, I just don't let go until the person is convinced. And soundly so.
If they fall down on their knees and declare loudly that I am right and that God has used me to help them see...all the better but come to think of it that has never happened before. Hmm...I wonder why not
Here is where the Body comes into play.
Members of His Body who see into the blind spot that I tend to fall into can be used by the Lord to point it out to me and to help me not fall into it again.
This brother in the Lord that I got with this morning was used by God a few days ago to help me realize that I was falling into that blind spot once again in another relationship I have.
Having friends in the Body that can be used by God that way, enables me to continue speaking the truth that God would have me speak while being protected from falling into that blind spot again.
It can mean the difference between a relationship keeping on track or going sour on me.
Perhaps I will always be blind in that area of my life. But as long as I am connected with others in the Body of Christ who are willing to point out to me when I starting to fall into beating somebody over the head uneccessarily and leaving love behind...I'll be okay and the Lord will be able to use us all more effectively as He works through each of us to help the other be more like Christ.
What a wonderful way of keeping us all humble. We are not meant to do the Christian life by ourselves.
We all have blind spots in our lives as a result of the sin that lies within our sinful natures. But the Lord, through His Body, can help us all to be more than we could be by ourselves.
I am doubly blessed in that the friend I had breakfast with this morning is not only able to be used by God in my life that way but with the fact that he is involved in a home group Church that is nothing like your typical Sunday morning, go and sit and listen for an hour, type service. A home group Church that I am getting more involved in.
Undoubtedly this home group Church has some things that may not be in line with how the Lord would have it do things. Perhaps my gift of discernment based on biblical truth will be used by the Lord to help out this group as I am being helped with my blind spot.
Only time will tell.
But for now I am content in building the relationships that I am building here in San Diego and seeing once again how the Lord can use the Body as each of the members does it's part.
To His greater honor and glory.
Carlos
One of my strong points is that I know the Bible quite well. I can discuss doctrinal issues with the best of them. Partly because of that solid Christian foundation and perhaps because there may be some spiritual gift of some sorts regarding discernment in there somewhere too...little gets by me with respect to my being able to see and discern wrong thinking regarding spiritual things.
I am usually able to quickly discern whether something is biblical or not.
All well and good (assuming I do not in fact have an overly exalted view of my spiritual discernment of course which is always a possibility
). But...with all that spiritual discernment and bible knowledge, coupled with my ability to communicate through the written word quite well, there remains in me a most pervasive and unending blind spot.
Where I am completely blind to it. I do not even see the spiritual pitfall that I stumble over. I literally do not see it.
And that blind spot is this...
I have a tendency to hone in so quickly and so clearly into wrong thinking on the part of another and can bring to bear perfect verses to help another "see" what they do not see...that without even realizing it I often end up blowing somebody away. Beating them over the head with spiritual truth.
When the inevitable tends to happen and they go away I see it as "hardness" of heart! Can you believe that?! That's how blind I am!
While I see myself as standing up for the faith and possibly being used by God to knock some spiritual sense into someone else...the truth is that God is not in the business of knocking spiritual truth into anyone. If people are willing to hear He can work with them but if they are not, God Himself does not go about using His Word as a sledgehammer to beat some sense into anyone.
And I shouldn't either.
But I do and don't even realize that I do, when I do.
And therein lies my blind splot.
Not that this happens all the time mind you. By God's grace and mercy there are times when I am able to share truth without beating others over the head with it. But it happens far more often than it should. Especially in close relationships.
Like a blind spot on a car...I simply and completely do not see what I may be doing to someone and how love, the greatest doctrine, can end up being trampled upon by me beating somebody over the head with spiritual truth.
Truth, even real truth, if not shared in love can end up causing someone to be uneccessarily turned off to God.
It's even hard for me to speak about this in such a way that what I should be doing is clear.
Because I am talking about a blind spot.
There is a danger that I could go the other way in not being pursuasive regarding the things of God when I should be and just becoming this milktoast Christian who is afraid to say anything at all.
But it is clearly evident that I often tend to blow others away by honing in and sticking to something that someone should be convinced about, like a dog with his bone, I just don't let go until the person is convinced. And soundly so.
If they fall down on their knees and declare loudly that I am right and that God has used me to help them see...all the better but come to think of it that has never happened before. Hmm...I wonder why not
Here is where the Body comes into play.
Members of His Body who see into the blind spot that I tend to fall into can be used by the Lord to point it out to me and to help me not fall into it again.
This brother in the Lord that I got with this morning was used by God a few days ago to help me realize that I was falling into that blind spot once again in another relationship I have.
Having friends in the Body that can be used by God that way, enables me to continue speaking the truth that God would have me speak while being protected from falling into that blind spot again.
It can mean the difference between a relationship keeping on track or going sour on me.
Perhaps I will always be blind in that area of my life. But as long as I am connected with others in the Body of Christ who are willing to point out to me when I starting to fall into beating somebody over the head uneccessarily and leaving love behind...I'll be okay and the Lord will be able to use us all more effectively as He works through each of us to help the other be more like Christ.
What a wonderful way of keeping us all humble. We are not meant to do the Christian life by ourselves.
We all have blind spots in our lives as a result of the sin that lies within our sinful natures. But the Lord, through His Body, can help us all to be more than we could be by ourselves.
I am doubly blessed in that the friend I had breakfast with this morning is not only able to be used by God in my life that way but with the fact that he is involved in a home group Church that is nothing like your typical Sunday morning, go and sit and listen for an hour, type service. A home group Church that I am getting more involved in.
Undoubtedly this home group Church has some things that may not be in line with how the Lord would have it do things. Perhaps my gift of discernment based on biblical truth will be used by the Lord to help out this group as I am being helped with my blind spot.
Only time will tell.
But for now I am content in building the relationships that I am building here in San Diego and seeing once again how the Lord can use the Body as each of the members does it's part.
To His greater honor and glory.
Carlos
Total Comments 6
Comments
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I frankly have experienced this with you also to the point where I don't desire to engage in any religious conversation with you and shy away from those blogs.
Try to disengage your ego and engage your heart and let God flow from there. Perhaps you will be more successful in making contact with others. There is nothing that is more of a turn off than someone who is so embedded in their beliefs that they look down upon others as failures if they don't get it right away.
Faith takes time and experience to mature. When we get older, we sometimes forget that we struggled when we were young also.Posted 07-17-2009 at 01:43 PM by yukiko11
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I am truly sorry Yukiko if my blind spot caused me to step on you in our conversations or to otherwise treat you in an overbearing manner. If I did that I would ask for your forgiveness.
Bear in mind Yukiko that as a Christian there are certain beliefs that are indeed black and white and which are embedded within me and indeed in the life of any Christian as a result of God placing those beliefs in us. Such embedded beliefs cannot and should not be changed.
If having such set beliefs itself turns someone off Yukiko there is nothing that any Christian can do about that. It is the nature of following the one who said He is the way, the truth, and the life to have such beliefs.
It is likewise important to point out Yukiko that having such absolute beliefs does not automatically mean that Christians look down on everyone else as inferior. The nature of the Christian faith is that we are all in equal need of a Saviour by virtue of standing equally condemned before a holy God whom we have offended by our many sins.
Stating that the bible is the truth and that it's absolutes are...well...absolute is not the blind spot I referred to Yukiko.
My blind spot is when I try and pursuade someone of that truth ten times over. Over and over again. Thinking that by mere pursuasion I can somehow bring a person around to seeing the truth.
I emphesize the word...pursuade. An active and engaged attempt to convince someone. To pursuade them to change their mind. And continuing to do so with the same person, over and over again, bringing up the same points...over and over again, until they are pursuaded.
I don't do much of that on this blog. On the open Christian forums...yes I have done that. In real life with close relationships...yes, I have done that too.
But generally not on this blog. Here I just lay out what is on my heart and the things which God is teaching me for whatever they are worth to others who might want to read what I say.
What I am saying is that any wrong I have done and my asking for forgiveness in that does not alleviate me as a Christian from speaking the truth. God's absolute truth.
What I cannot and must not do is try and pursuade others ten times over, over and over again, until they either see the truth or I loose their friendship. That is one area (among many) where I fall short in being all that God would have me be. And it is something that I will need His continuing help to change in.
I hope that makes sense Yukiko. I do so much appreciate your being frank with me and appreciate having you interact with me through my blog.
CarlosPosted 07-18-2009 at 01:03 AM by carlos123
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I understand your heart, but don't understand your motivation. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.Posted 07-18-2009 at 01:42 AM by yukiko11
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No problem Yukiko!
See? I am not trying to pursuade you.
CarlosPosted 07-18-2009 at 02:20 AM by carlos123
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It was nice to see you again on the forums Carlos and your honesty about your struggle. I have been praying for you regarding that issue.
I too notice you jackhammering of your beliefs during past forums and a couple of us prayed that you would see this. I guess our prayers have been answered.
There was I time in my life I was angry at false teaching by the church after the Holy Spirit revealed God truth about His Church. But the Lord calmed me down and showed me I could reach more with gentleness than with rage. And it worked perfectly!! The love of Christ attracts people but distracts evil; now that is my goal in life. Well I am going back to the forum for teachings. I hope you return on a more frequent basis...you are missed.
Posted 07-19-2009 at 12:30 PM by eyewrist
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Thanks for your encouragement eyewrist. Much, much appreciated.
Although I am somewhat disappointed that you did not come out and correct me in love when you saw me doing that. You might have been able to stop me doing more damage than I might have done if you had.
There is a badly mistaken notion in Christian circles that we are simply to pray for those what we see in some error of character until God shows them what they need to see when biblically the more loving and godly approach is to initiate with said person to correct them.
Not saying that this is always what God would want done. Much depends on the relationship we have with said person and other factors. So perhaps God led you to say nothing to me at the time.
But I assure you that at present if you were see anything else and shared it with me I would be all ears to learn whatever I could from any godly correction given to me.
Just so you know.
As for getting back into participating in the open forums here...among other things, I am just way too busy these days with activities elsewhere on the Internet, work, and also around San Diego to get too involved. But I appreciate your sharing your wish that I return eyewrist. Very much.
God bless you.
CarlosPosted 07-19-2009 at 06:49 PM by carlos123
