Darkness Is My Only Companion

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Several months ago, I began thinking through an aspect of my Christian faith that I have been thinking through ever since off and on. Initially, my question was "How does the Gospel of Jesus Christ reach those who are mentally ill?" In the church, there are all kinds of specialized ministries that target different groups of people (i.e. addicts, orphans, widows, the poor, etc.). I don't recall hearing of a significant arm of the body of Christ reaching out to those who are mentally ill, at least not at the church I regularly attend and also most churches I know of here in the South. That was very convicting to me. 

I do need to begin with a clarification of what I mean by mentally ill. I am referring to those who have either moderate or severe cognitive dysfunction causing mental impairment--i.e. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, etc. These are the people we might stereotypically think about being in the psychiatric ward of a hospital or a mental hospital of some kind like what we see somewhat crudely displayed in Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 

John 1:3 says that Jesus Christ created all things. Therefore, that means that He created men and women with mental illnesses as well. I would think that they would find themselves in the same circumstances that we all find ourselves in--living in an enslavement to our sin , separated from God, and in desperate need of a Savior and a God-given will to surrender to His Lordship. This truth brings about many very good questions--why did God create people this way? How can we present the Gospel coherently to someone who is not cognitively coherent at all? What does God do about people He knows do not have the mental capacity to understand the Gospel and what they must do to receive the gift of salvation? I may be way wrong in saying this, but I feel like the church has turned a primarily deaf ear to men and women in these circumstances. Which leads me to the reason for the book image at the top.

When I was confronted with this question, I began searching for literature of fellow Christians who may have addressed this topic. To be honest, the results were disheartening. There were very few books I found on Amazon regarding the subject. The one in particular I am outlining in this blog is titled Darkness is My Only Companion by Kathryn Greene-McCreight. The author is a practicing Episcopal priest who has severe bipolar disorder. She writes from the perspective of someone of fighting the good fight of faith in the midst of often significant mental impairment. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I won't say that it answered all my questions, but it shed a good bit of light on the process of the growth of faith in the wake of such an impairment. I would recommend that any firm man or woman of God read this book. We really need to reach out a hand to these people and learn to understand them and learn the heart of God for them. 

I wrestled with myself regarding whether or not I would try and address all my questions in this blog, and then I realized that it would result in digital novella. Therefore, I have decided to tackle each specific question in individual blog posts in the future. Each post will be part of a series called "Darkness is My Only Companion" (Part I, II. etc.). 

May we follow Christ to the outside of the city.

Actions Speak Louder

I don't know how many of my dear readers are fans of Hip-Hop, but there is a really awesome Christian Hip-Hop artist named "Lecrae" who has joined up with several other Christian Hip-Hop artists on this single. If you like you some Hip-Hop it is definitely worth a purchase even if it isn't quite your thing. See why below. May God be worshiped in Sudan. 


Actions Speak Louder is a song that will be sold on iTunes as of 11/16/10, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to His Voice Global to build a fourth orphanage in a war torn country that has left over 2 Million dead and many orphaned. Speak loud for orphans in Southern Sudan! Go here to read about Sudan through the artist's eyes on their recent trip there this fall and see what led to the making of this song. Remember, all of the proceeds go to build an orphanage so go ahead and spend that 99 cents you can probably scrounge up in the bottom of your purse. Click here to download the song. If you would like to check out the lyrics to the song as well you can find them here.

Photo Editing!

I have always had a fondness for editing photos and video. I think it is a great form of expression that I enjoy doing a great deal. As a change of pace in relation to my other blog posts I though I would share some of my creations. I will post more as I find them. For any of my dear readers, if you have any photos or video you need to have edited feel free to let me know! I would love to help! God bless!

PHOTOS

To begin with, these are some pictures I edited for the company I work with. They were included in several different advertising campaigns.

This is a photo I created from scratch for our company Christmas card last year (2009). 

 

 

VIDEOS

This is a video I edited with footage from my missions trip to Uganda back in 2007

 

 

 

This video deals with the second coming of Christ

 

 

 

Lastly, this is a video I made concerning faith.

 

 

 

 

The God We Praise

Currently, God has given me the privilege to be involved in His body at the Church at Brook Hills. This Wednesday, the worship band is releasing a CD entitled "The God We Praise." All the tracks are originals that were written by members in our worship band. There is a great variety of lyrics and musical styles on here that I think can be an encouragement to all believers everywhere, whether in praise to the Lord or supplication.

The worship team has set up a web site where you can get a lot more information about the CD and purchase it as well. Just click on the image above to go there. I hope you guys enjoy it! I'm so thankful for our worship team. They are a tremendous blessing.

Husbandry

I have not posted in quite some time. Much has occurred since my last post, most of which would bore most readers to tears so I will spare you all that.

However, one significant is my new marriage convent with my lovely bride, Beth. It has been quite a journey so far. I have realized that nothing can really prepare you for the way God refines you through marriage. I have been able to see with my own eyes the greatest heights of God's mercy, patience, and grace with me, as well as the depths of my own sinfulness that I never knew even existed.

I have been so thankful to see how the Lord has used Beth to teach me how to look past myself and die to myself in the decisions that I make and the desires that I have. Naturally, men in their fallen state tend to be incredibly selfish, materialistic, and--in America--stuck in a boyish state throughout their adult life. The rewards of Biblical manhood are indescribable, which I have barely got to the foothills of so far, but one thing I know for sure is that dying to self is often painful, frustrating, and often scary because before the Spirit of God in me can kill a fleshly part of me, it is brought to the surface and I must stare down my own sinfulness. My inner man can be seen clearly in the mirror, and he is very ugly. All that to say, the glorious truth I have been constantly reminded of is "surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed," as well as "He who seeks to save his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

I must not make decisions to satisfy my own selfish desires anymore. There is another person who I affect with the decisions I make now. I must learn to show the same unconditional love that my Savior has shown me. "Husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." I desire so much that the Lord give me the grace to just be a man and love Beth the way I should. I praise God that His grace is greater than my sin, and He is doing the work to make Beth and I more like Him. We must just put ourselves at His disposal and say, "Here we are, Lord."

Right now we are working on getting a consistent time of prayer, worship, and study of the Word together. This is certainly a more elementary thing, but it is of the greatest importance over all else for a marriage to be Christ-exalting and therefore full of peace and joy. It's so easy for our materialism to get in the way of such important things. Our culture is so full of it all over the place. Our love of it is destroying marriages, creating derelict parents, and creating border-lined professors of faith in Christ who treat Jesus as a flavor of the week as long as their checkbooks balance and their car payments get in on time.

I pray to God that we would not be that couple. God's grace is not cheap. It demands all, yet it offers quadruple more than what it demands. Jesus offers us two things--one of which is not a car, house, or happy life--a cross to die on and resulting everlasting life searching the endless treasures of the knowledge of God. I pray the Lord would rip us from the world and make our hearts want more than cheap toys.

Stamp Eternity on My Eyeballs

This is my first post in quite some time. Much has been going on with wedding planning, which is T-Minus 10 days away! There will be much more to come once I have officially been joined in covenant with the lovely Ms. Beth Lester :-) As for now, I came across this video of a preacher who I used to listen to often when I first came to know Christ. I have seen few men as in touch with the heart of God as he. I hope it blesses you.

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.

A Groovy Tune!

At church on Sunday we had a day of fasting and prayer for the entire church. It was a very blessed time. The focus was on the fact that the purpose of fasting is to abstain from worldly delicacies, especially food, in order to feast on God and all the riches He has in store. It is to joyfully focus our hearts on the truth that man does not live by bread alone but by the Word of God. We celebrated the reality that we need God's Word more than we need food. That is why we fast. The choir lead the congregation in several amazing songs of worship, one in particular that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would now like to share that tune with all those who would like to listen. Unfortunately, this is not a recording of the choir at my church. It is the original recording, but the choir sounded a lot like the original recording. They hung in there! :-D Alas, Baptists do know how to break it down in worship to the Lord and no stones flew as the swaying to the rhythm began.

	Gary Oliver - Holy Holy Holy .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine