Category: Random Thoughts On Life

We Sin. God Forgives. Grace Reigns.

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‪Early on in my Christian walk, I was told exposing your sin is the only way it could be robbed of its power over you. So I did it. I told people. Lots of people. It was hard, and it hurt, and it was tough on my family, especially my wife. When the smoke cleared, I didn’t feel better, or freer, or more holy.  The only thing I knew now was the people knew what a horrible sinner I was, and after the initial pats on the back, it seemed as if I hadn’t said a word. Continue reading “We Sin. God Forgives. Grace Reigns.” →

My Walmart Purgatory

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It’s early Sunday morning, and I’m at a gas station just outside of Detroit, filling up for a long drive home. Around 9 hours ahead of me, to be exact. The last thing I need to see on my dashboard, is the “low tire pressure” light on. I inspect the back tire on the driver’s side, and my fear is fully realized. I’m totally screwed! No, really. It’s a big fat screw robbing my tire of the precious air it needs for it to get me home. As per the hotel clerk, I was left two choices; the local gas-station mechanic, which wasn’t open yet, and would undoubtedly have access to limited supplies on a lazy Sunday morning, or the super-sized Walmart, just short of a mile down the road.  I hastily made my choice, and I suppose I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life. Continue reading “My Walmart Purgatory” →

Detroit: 72 Hours of Frankness

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May 7th, 2017

It was a long weekend.

It was the typical three days, but I crammed so much in, that by 2:00 AM Monday morning when I pulled into my driveway, I think I heard my body audibly sigh in relief. I had spent the weekend in Michigan, and I got there the best way I know how that didn’t require my feet to leave the ground. In other words, I drove. It was worth the nine-hour trek through the raging rain and windstorm. It was worth it for even the few hours, and sometimes only minutes, I got to spend with people as we invested into each other’s lives. Continue reading “Detroit: 72 Hours of Frankness” →

Divorced Observations

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This one’s a little different today. It’s a reflection on life at my current job in the New York State Court System. There’s nothing specifically Christian about it, except maybe to say that kindness, mercy, and grace can be a great comfort and help in some of the worst situations of life, whether we care to have God be involved in it, or not. I hope it’s encouraging, or at least gives you pause to consider how to seek the best way forward in any situation. 

Continue reading “Divorced Observations” →

Church Plant Memoirs: What Was I Thinking?

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Sunday, April 23, 2017

Nearly 9:00 PM, and I feel like a prisoner in my car. If there is one thing I feared the most about being part of a church plant in the heart of New York City, this would be it. Continue reading “Church Plant Memoirs: What Was I Thinking?” →

A Journey, The Struggle, And Encouragement

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“Life is a journey” We hear that a lot.

From TV and movies, to fluffy little news pieces,  to quaint concise sayings on Twitter and Facebook, these can all seem like bold declarations of “finding direction for your life.” It’s all around us. Frankly, I’ve never been more tired of it. But, there is some truth to the initial saying. It’s just with so much media access, it can seem like overkill, as well as beyond confusing because every person with a blog, TV show, or conference wants to tell you what that journey is supposed to be about.  I guess this could be counted as one more. I mean, I’m not really going to tell you what that specific journey is, or how to achieve nirvana by following it. I’m just going to quickly(or not so quickly), tell you about one of the journeys I’m on and maybe it will encourage you, and maybe just maybe it will be so awful you’ll puke. Either way at least I’m getting a reaction. Continue reading “A Journey, The Struggle, And Encouragement” →

Letters To Bob…

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A friend obtain these letters at extreme danger to himself. He then passed them on to me, and I hereby submit them to my entire blogging audience for the purpose of hopefully grasping the idea of God’s Grace as displayed by Bob, the father of this wayward son. The names, have of course, been changed to protect the parties.*  Continue reading “Letters To Bob…” →

God Has A “Specific” Plan For Your Life!

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…A Parable

Myles was a drug addict before he came to faith in Christ. Now, He uses that past life to minister to other addicts in his community. He does his best to help by using the gift he believes God has specifically given him. Most of all, he shares the Gospel with them. Some hear the words, and are moved by them to repent and trust in Christ. Some others hear the words and leave unaffected. Whatever the circumstances or results, Myles keeps on walking out that specific plan God has for his life. Continue reading “God Has A “Specific” Plan For Your Life!” →

“Extreme” Labeling: A Rare Rant…

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I am so tired of labels….

For the past month or so, the mainstream media and other “internet personalities” have exhausted all their energies in slapping various labels on people, depending on the controversy. First came the election. That means, if you were one of the “nut jobs” that voted for the president-elect, you were labeled any number of things, but not limited to misogynistic, homophobic, racist, white-supremacist, and of course, a jerk! On top of that, if you even hinted at the idea that you made what you considered either an informed or intelligent, well thought-out decision, then you were labeled someone who had to ignore a laundry list of atrocities in order to cast your vote. That’s more than 62 million people you are belittling and berating as ignorant.

Can we just stop right now? Please? Continue reading ““Extreme” Labeling: A Rare Rant…” →

How Do We Move Forward?

Published on by Dominick Santore2 Comments

Help me understand.

While I don’t necessarily agree with the manner of how things unfolded in this recent controversy over a former, now disgraced pastor, I understand the need for revelation. I know it’s for the benefit of the people hurt by all of it, as well as for the church, so it can begin to find ways to be more diligent in trying to see better where it may be still be happening, or recognize signs before it happens. The allegations made by the all parties hurt gave the impression that the church didn’t care or wasn’t listening. To that, I just don’t know. It appears they tried as best as possible, with the info they had, to deal with it in a biblical fashion. It turned out badly, seemingly having more to do with deception and unrepentance than anything else. Many have been sadden by the whole thing because it didn’t work. I share in that sadness. Continue reading “How Do We Move Forward?” →