Thank you for holding for the technical difficulties. I apologize for missing two days of blogging. I hope my many "fan" will forgive me. Sometimes the circumstances just come together to a place where life goes off schedule. One day the schedule was affected by teenage girls at my house who kept me on the run. It was great fun but it also changed my daily pattern. There is also the matter of computer difficulties that affect my ability to blog. Somehow I messed up one of the computers that I use to the point it is in rebellion now. I fear that I am not part of the technological generation. I can text message on the cell phone but at far less than warp speed. I can hunt and peck around a computer but that is about it. I took typing on manual and electric typewriters if that tells you about my lack of expertise. We shall resume tonight with our regular programming.

As a pastor friend of mine once said, "I've been in a pensive mood." To translate that is to say my mind is in a reflective mode lately. This is not totally a good thing. There is a big difference between withdrawing to be quiet and isolating yourself from others. I have to confess more of the latter than the first. It is not something that fills me with pride. Again, to be honest, it can be a "spiritual" excuse to just be alone. Usually it is something people do so they can mope about with some feeling of still looking righteous. The truth is that it is far from that. This is only one of about a zillion things in my life that could be better. Thankfully, there are some saints who believe it their calling to remind me of them. Reality is that I do pretty good at seeing these without any help.

Let me try to balance between whining and honest introspection for a few. It is a tightrope that not many of us conquer. There are a few scars on my body. Luckily, there are no major ones from any bad injuries. There is one under my chin where a football helmet met my bony chin. The end result is a scar that once showed before there was a beard to cover it. My chest has a scar from a motorbike accident. It seems that kickstands are not the most pleasant place to land in a mishap. If you looked closely along my neck you would see scars from where I nearly garroted myself years ago on a bicycle. When you hang up string or twine to mark off a field, you really need to remember it is there when flying downhill. Scars tell a story of the pain that caused them. Chances are we all have them. The question is are we moving past them?

There is such thing as emotional scarring. My hope would be that you have none of these. Sadly, my hope for you does not eliminate my own. Yes, some scars may be the fault of others. What that means is there were people in the past whose actions did not contribute to my growth as a human being. To say it is their fault is not to blame them but only to recognize it. Some of the scarring comes from not handling those actions in a healthy fashion. Some scarring can be self inflicted from perspectives or behavior that is not whole. We sometimes injure our own life by our values and priorities. Those scars are as real as any we receive from the outside.

Scars are real. Scars matter. They affect our decisions on into our destiny. Yes, there are more than a few scars that I would like to have removed. The truth is they are there as long as I live. Way too often, we cope with those injuries by isolation, manipulation or denial. We allow them to even filter into a relationship with God. Being loved by Him means being loved scars, warts, and all. It means we know that His scars display our value for all eternity. We may say more about this during the week. If you find yourself bored, I understand. But perhaps we can find some answers together so we live healthy human lives by grace.

Bro. Trey